The Corsair Saga II: The Buccaneer
by twentyitalians
Summary: Deckard Russell has joined the Corsairs at the request of his past lover, who now leads the Aliance's top fighter squadron. Even though he's just a steward, he intends to protect his friends no matter the cost. But sinister forces are in play and may force people to change in ways they never thought they could. Set in Another Realm Universe by Katkiller-V
1. Prologue 1: A Conversation

**Mass Effect is owned by BioWare**

Prologue 1: A Conversation

The Sisters

02-19-2180

Lohse Outskirts, Ontarom, Newtown System, Kepler Verge

Monstrous Thonal moved far faster than any normal moon should have moved against the night sky. Humans were fools to settle Ontarom. The matriarchs had told them as much when they began settling this rock. But humans had their quirks, they wanted Ontarom, so they settled it. Within my lifetime, if I lived to be a matriarch, this world would suffer a cataclysmic collision with Thonal. I shook my head at the thought.

For all my time spent on Earth, humans still astounded me. To think they had only come into the galactic community twenty years ago. Now look at them. Parading around the galaxy and crowing about not being shown the respect their race deserved. Still, their culture is fascinating to me.

But human culture is not why I've come to Lohse. No. It's time to pay an old friend a visit. That woman was supposed to stay out of conflict with her crest to the sand. Yet the events of the Shetland Incident last year meant she couldn't keep the seas at bay.

I was here to make sure she understood what her expulsion had meant sixty years ago, in case she had forgotten. Athame knew that Jona didn't forget. That unstable woman would not be happy to hear how my one-time Sister had helped the sailors.

Sighing, I took my sniper rifle off my back and placed it on the rock ledge in front of me. While the angle wasn't ideal, I had both the front and back of her bar in my sights. Relaxing my body, I looked through the scope. I needed to get a feel for the distances.

I immediately tensed as the end of a very large barrel was pressed against my crest. I instinctually flared my biotics to throw the person who had somehow crept up on me.

"Now, now. None of that." That voice. Athame's ass! "Turn over, slowly." I rolled onto my back as instructed and met with exactly who I thought it was.

"Aiels T'Doran," I said coldly.

"Daresa U'Rona. How the fuck did you find me?" Her scars gave her face an abhorrent look. The punishment for her failure that got us both kicked out of the Eclipse so long ago.

I narrowed my eyes at the tip of her sniper rifle. "I thought you'd still be carrying around Tuila?"

"She broke," Aiels said through gritted teeth. "Don't try to change the subject, Daresa. How did you fucking find me?"

"A cook told me." I'll let her make the connection. It's much easier to deal with someone when they actively have to think about what is going on in a situation.

"A cook?" The rifle barrel lowered a little and her eyes became distant. "No…," she said breathily.

"You know who I'm talking about."

"He's a good kid," something grim passed across her face and her eyes narrowed. "What in Athame's holy fucking name did you do to him?"

Despite the unspoken threat I actually let out a laugh. "I told him bluntly that he needed to tell me exactly what the disfigured asari who helped his crew on Ontarom looked like. You don't need to get as protective as a matron about it. I knew the young boy before you did."

"Why are you here Daresa?"

"Making sure it was really you."

"Fuck that. You knew it was me as soon as that ape told you what I looked like." She pressed the barrel of the gun onto my forehead. "Why are you here Daresa? I'm not going to ask again."

"Touchy, aren't we?" The barrel pressed a little harder into my skin. "Fine! I need your help."

It was Aiels turn to laugh now. The laugh reminded me of earlier times sitting around a bar with wine bottles strewn about. When Aiels had been the most beautiful asari I had ever seen. The laugh was so incongruous with what she looked like now it was quite jarring. The large smile that split her face and the scars were equally unsettling.

"What does Daresa U'Rona need with my help?"

"I need to catch a murderer." The barrel was pulled away from my head again but remained pointing at me.

"If I remember correctly, and I like to think I am, that was your specialty when we were Sisters. Has your time on Earth made you forget?"

I refused to let her goad me so I decide to throw her off balance. "If I recognized your description, how long before Jona hears the same? You were supposed to disappear and...what did she say 60 years ago?"

Aiels glared at me. "To never show my formerly pretty little face anywhere near the Terminus again."

"I don't believe she'll find the Traverse very far away from her. I'll take you with me to help you."

I totally misjudged that last phrase. "Help me?" Her hands gripped the sniper rifle as her eyes widened. "Like you fucking helped me when that psychotic bitch threatened to tear my crest off with her mind? Like you helped me when she…" Biotic energy rippled across her forearms. It was the only warning I had.

"NO!" I threw her back with my own biotics before she could do anything rash. Rashness had gotten her in trouble in the first place.

Aiels staggered backward, allowing me to scramble onto my hands and knees before she punched me in the side of the head with a biotically charged blow. I hadn't been in a real brawl in a long time. The smile came naturally to my face. This was going to be fun.

I let her rear back her arm for another strike before lashing out with my own fist and punching her fist dead on. The sharp biotic crack sent us both flying back. This time I quickly scrambled to my feet and saw that Aiels had lost her grip on her sniper rifle, the sole reason for the punch I threw. Athame's ass, my hand hurt for taking that risk.

Aiels' whole body flared purple as her anger fed her biotics. But I knew this fight was totally in my control. Aiels had never been a strong biotic. I, on the other hand, always had been. Aiels took the lead in our violent dance.

She dashed at me and reared back for another biotically charged punch. A step before reaching me, I focused a biotic throw at her waist and sent her off balance. The punch sailed wide and to my left. I deftly stepped towards the off-balance woman and delivered a punch directly to her stomach. She let out a grunt as my fist connected. I let my own biotics flare up as I jumped on top of her prone form and held her down.

"Yield!" I yelled at her.

Her eyes narrowed at the command. I was flung through the air and landed on my back 15 feet away. That throw hurt like a bitch. Maybe I had to recalculate my odds? Still, sixty years hadn't been enough for her to get that kind of mastery of her biotics...had it? I propped myself up on my elbow and looked back. Aiels was still laying on her back.

So I had been right. It was the last act of a desperate woman. No, a girl. Her moniker was very apt. Staggering to my feet I trudged over to where my former Sister lay on her back, exhausted. I placed my boot on her chest lightly.

"Yield." A soft purple light briefly appeared on her hand before it went out on its own. "You're facing biotic exhaustion Aiels. Yield and I'll get you something to eat."

Aiels' eyes closed a single tear trickled down the side of her face. I took my foot off of her chest and sat down beside her. Opening a pocket on my pants I pulled out a ration bar, unwrapped it, and put it on her chest. After she had eaten the bar, she pulled herself together and sat on the ground across from me.

I decided to ease us back into our previous conversation. "That was quite the biotic display, Aiels."

"Stop calling me that." So we weren't going to ease into anything tonight, apparently. "That maiden died sixty years ago."

"I'm not calling you The Girl. You're still my Ai- Sister." Well that potential slip up may have cost me what I came here for.

"The Girl is who I am, Daresa. We aren't Sisters anymore, remember? Jona made that fact very clear."

I remembered. And the memory brought back Aiels' horrified cries as Jona made her look at her disfigured face. I shook the memory from my head. "Aiels, why did you help Deckard?"

"You know why," she said as she picked a pebble off the ground and flung it away from her.

"Slavers? That's the only reason?"

"Is there any other reason?"

Wait, what did Deckard say? Aiels had stuck with them...with one of them. Oh shit Aiels. "What was her name?"

Silence greeted my question.

"Aiels, I'm sorry."

"Her name was Wendy Kolthani. And I…" Aiels trailed off. She threw another rock into the night.

"Aiels, I need your help. I need to stop someone who hurt the people I cared for as well." It was now or never. Either I could convince her of the mission or I was left without my right hand.

"No." She dusted off her pants and stood up.

"No?" I stood up myself as she began to walk back to pick up her sniper rifle. "That's it? Just no?"

"Just no," and she picked up her rifle and began to trek back down the hillside.

"I'm offering you a ride off this rock!" I called out to her. "Athame's ass, Aiels!" But she didn't stop again. Looks like this was going to take a bit more work than I thought it would.

 **Hello to everyone returning and to everyone new! If you haven't read The Corsair Saga: The Steward you might be a bit lost. So go back and search the site for the first story in this series. If you liked what you read today don't forget to Favorite and Follow the story and me, the writer. Also, I'd love to hear from you so don't be shy and leave a review.**


	2. Prologue 2: Purpose

**I don't own Mass Effect**

Prologue 2: Purpose

The Agent

02-12-2180

Undisclosed Ship, Undisclosed Location

"This had better be a secure channel," the feminine voice barked out as the comms came to life.

"Of course it is! Do you think I'm stupid?"

"Reports from Arcturus Station speak to the possibility."

"I made my escape, to plan. The assassination took place, to plan. There was no stupidity from my actions."

"Agent Zelus, I know you went to see both of them."

"But the mission was a success."

"Not by my standards, it wasn't!" A fist could be heard slamming into the desk on the other end of the line.

"Well, it's not your standards that matter in the end, is it? Only matters what The Illusive Man thinks."

"A brazen statement, Zelus." There was a brief pause. "I'm sending your next assignment now. Don't mess this one up too. Stick to the mission parameters." The line was cut just as the data packet was received.

Dario Marmont leaned back in his seat on the ship he had liberated from Arcturus Station. The pilot was another operative, another cog, in the Cerberus machine. He couldn't understand what Agent Brooks was so upset about. The operation had been a success. Cut down a member of the Huerta political dynasty and take out two of his top political allies. Everything had happened to plan.

Deckard Russell hadn't been to plan. But any friendly feelings Dario may have still harbored were squashed when he saw how much time he and Cami were spending together. It was a shame Gunther couldn't keep his old flame tied down and out of the picture. Just one more weak-willed casualty of the fight to make humanity stronger. Dario had seen to that man's disposal himself.

Dario opened the data packet and shook his head. The Illusive Man certainly knew how to turn the screws. But, this is why he joined the organization. Cerberus knew how to get humanity to turn in the right direction. It took subterfuge, assassinations, and bribery but it also took finding the right people for the job. Dario was the right person for this operation.

He flicked through the data files to find out more about his target. A former marine with a tarnished record. Medicated but no predisposition to narcotics. Furiously devoted to...his wife? Interesting. Seems Paulo Fraser was finally convinced to marry that piece of work. She probably threatened him enough times that he caved to her demands. Seems they hadn't left the paradise of a colony where he Paulo had been drummed out of the service. He heard Yamm was quite an exotic planet, hurricanes, temperature extremes, and toxic algae. Should be fun!

The mission was clear enough. He just hoped he had enough of that stupidly innocent charm left in him to play the fool again. He had lost his cover with Deckard but who could really have expected Deckard to be the target? He wouldn't lose himself in the moment with Paulo and Dee though. The mission was clear: Dupe and Recruit.

The Sisters

02-16-2180

The Shifty Space Cow

Lohse, Ontarom, Newton System, Kepler Verge, Milky Way

This bar is filthy. I've been in some pretty rough spots but this rivals something on Omega. Wood floors! Mismatching furniture! Glasses and cups that looked hand washed! Wood. Floors. A part of me feels sorry for Aiels. I can see why she would hole up here. The place looked just barely passable. Maybe it was how she felt about herself?

The woman in question was sitting across from me, the only other person in this dump. She was trying very hard not to show the alcohol taking effect. She was succeeding but just barely. I, on the other hand, was completely under control. I still had the ability to cut loose once and awhile, even working for the Huerta's. While I didn't want to get Aiels drunk and then throw her into my ship, I knew that the option was at least on the table.

"Aiels?" I asked quietly.

She gave me a very annoyed look and leaned across the table. The smell of asari wine on her breath. "I told you, call me The Girl..."

I could have sworn that she wanted to say something more but she evidently wasn't that far gone.

"Fine..." I searched my mind for how to correctly address her. Which led to me barking out a laugh after I opened and shut my mouth two or three times trying to not sound like an idiot by addressing her as 'The Girl.' Maybe I was a little intoxicated.

Aiels made a gun with her fingers and shot it at me, a very human expression. "Seems I'm not the only girl who can't handle her liquor."

I waved away the accusation. "Lies I tell you. Lies." I shook my head, trying to gain control again. "Athame's tits, Aiels. What the hell was in that wine?"

"Enough of the good stuff," she gave me an impish grin, which was hard to pull off with her disfigurement. "I think I've been saving this shit for just such an event."

"The return of one of your Sisters?"

"Or a seduction," she downed the drink in front of her.

"Seduction? No no no. I'm not falling for that Aiels. We aren't maidens fresh off Thessia anymore."

Aiels got up from her seat and sauntered over to my chair. My mind was screaming at me to take control of the situation again but it was so damn hard. She must have spiked the alcohol. Her hand brushed my eyelids down as she brought her lips to the side of my head.

"Just close your eyes Daresa. It will be just like old times." Her whispered breath was hot and smelled of the salty wine. It was titillating and exhilarating. As her lips brushed against my closed eye my brain finally got a coherent thought through to the rest of my body.

I grabbed her waist and pushed her back against the table. She let out a very willing moan which I consciously pushed out of my thoughts for the moment. "Let's make a deal."

Her body sagged on the table. "Seriously, 'Resa?"

"You want me? I need your help." My hands moved up and down on her hips slightly, I couldn't help myself.

"That's a terrible bargain. We both want this. So what kind of deal is that?" She tried to push her body against mine but I held her against the table. "Daresa," she continued, "there's no way I can make you drop your exasperating request?"

"No, Aiels."

"Fine. Are you going to leave now? I'm not going to give you the answer you want."

"No, Aiels. You are already invested, whether you want to be or not. I could really use your help. So I'm staying until you agree to go."

Aiels let out a very annoyed sound and was quiet for a few moments. "I'll go with you," I relaxed the pressure on her hips a bit. "Only if you help me find out what the fuck is going on with these slavers."

A counteroffer? This was not what I was expecting. I weighed my options. I could sit here in Lohse waiting and wearing down Aiels' objections until sometime in the future when she'll join me just out of sheer frustration. I'd give that a week, maybe, but that was a very optimistic time frame. I could accept the counteroffer and be delayed even more in my own search while we tracked down whatever was going on out here in the Traverse. How long would that take? Months? Athame's ass, how long would my own search take? Or I could just walk away. I could set off on my own. Aiels was right, this was what I used to do for my Sisters in the Eclipse.

But I came here for a reason and the reason was the same one I told Aiels earlier: If I knew where she was, Jona probably knew. She may not have appreciated that I saved her life 60 years ago but I still saved her life.

I looked up at my former lover and Sister. "We'll do it your way, Aiels. We'll start tracking these joint slaver operations." A huge smile broke across her face. The effect was slightly repulsive but I pushed the thought away and focused on remembering her as she looked 60 years prior. "But!" I said as she pushed against my hands again. "When our leads run dry, I make the call about abandoning the operation and switching to my own."

"Fair enough," she said. She reached her hand out and closed my eyelids again. "Now, time to continue where we left off."

That night was something we both had needed. I hadn't been with another of my own kind in 50 years. In hindsight, the meld was a mistake but we didn't break it when it happened.

The rush of being flooded with so many memories from my Aiels made me want to breakdown and cry. So much heartbreak and shame. But a growing, steely resolve to redefine herself. To wear the scars as a mask and a badge of honor. She had journeyed from one asari colony to another, trying to stay in the shadows or find decent work. But no bar would touch her and any small merc force would eventually come into an operation with or against the Eclipse. She would have to run to another colony just to stay ahead of Jona Sederis.

After the Relay 314 Incident, she did almost what I had done, ingratiated herself with humanity. While I went straight for the key players, Aiels had sought to help herself by smuggling for the nascent human colonists. That's how she came to Lohse and found a dear older human running a shitty little bar. He had accepted her without complaint and without raising questions about her past. They had made a silent bargain to watch out for each other.

The memories slid through my mind from there and my own subconscious stopped the images when they came to Deckard and his crew. The initial feeling of ambivalence changed to sorrow and loss as the memories played out. A turian named Vetra was the first wave to crash on her detachment from the sailors' plight. A smuggler she actually cared for? Interesting. But then the memories and the accompanying desires of a darker-skinned human woman came up more and more often. This was Wendy. She had thought about her over and over again since it happened.

And I saw what happened. I almost broke down and cried during the meld. To see the memory that broke Deckard. And Aiels' tumultuous feelings hardly kept beneath the ocean's surface. Pain, loss, and sorrow. The sorrow you feel when you lose a member of your family or your mate. It was heart-wrenching.

I pulled myself back a bit from the meld and came unexpectedly upon Aiels or the subconscious projection of herself.

"Was I interesting enough?" Aiels asked with a slight edge to her voice.

I couldn't answer. It wasn't shame on my part. Athame's tits, it was Aiels! Aiels as she had been before her punishment. Hre face was beautiful and riveting. Her beauty was what many of The Sisterhood had come to love and loathe about her. She could have been anything and done everything on Thessia with that face. Instead, she chose to become a mercenary.

I did what I thought best. I lost myself in the past and gave her a stupidly large grin and rushed to hug her. She accepted the embrace, physically we were so much further than a hug, but the feeling I got from her was not one of appreciation. There was a lot of shame in Aiels. I hugged her all the same. I didn't think I would be able to help with any long-term benefits but, in this moment, I was going to give her the comfort and acceptance she wanted.

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	3. Act I: Chapter 1 - Childish Ways

**I don't own the Mass Effect IP. But how cool would that be?**

 **A/N** : Minor tweaks have been made for grammatical correctness and readability ~TI

Act I: Liberator

Chapter 1 - Childish Ways

03-14-2180, 0715 Alliance Standard Time

SSV Royal Fortune, Third Flotilla, Second Corsair Fleet (unofficial) - In Orbit

Anhur, Amun System, Eagle Nebula, Terminus/Traverse Border, Milky Way

The sizzle of meat and the general sounds of cooking greeted Camille Wilmot as she stepped into the forward galley aboard the SSV Royal Fortune. The ship was a prototype of a new class of carriers. Well, it wasn't a prototype as much as the prototype. Cami often wondered why and how the corsairs were supplied Royal Fortune since coming aboard last month. She had begun to suspect the problem was the starship had major energy transfer inefficiencies from the brief time Cami had spent with Royal Fortune's Main Engineering crew. Better for the Alliance to have the Corsairs make use of the prototype instead of scrapping the whole venture.

She was settling into her new life aboard Royal Fortune. Gone were the days of meeting with diplomats and their staffs. Now her life was devoted to understanding the inner workings of the F-61 Trident. Her squadron, Seager's Sabres, had kept their official Alliance designation as the 355th Fighter Squadron, onboard Royal Fortune they were also designated Black Squadron. Bianka Seager and her officers were the lead squadron of The Colors: Black, Red, White, Gold, Blue, and Green squadrons. Because the carrier could hold 200 Tridents, there were a myriad of different Wings and easily identifiable monikers for each. The Colors was just one of those wings. There were also The Greeks (Alfa, Beta, Delta, Gamma, Psi, and Epsilon), The Raptors (Falcon, Hawk, Eagle, Condor, Owls, and Vultures), The Colonies (Horizon, Luna, Therum, Trident, Joab, and Terra Nova), as well many other colloquial names. Each group took fierce pride in their Wing and Squadron designations and events were held every sixth day for the squadrons to face off in competitions both in space and on the ship. Cami also came to realize that each squadron held a fierce pride in being part of the Corsairs.

This was the only carrier operating with the semi-autonomous organization and many onboard saw their work as being the edge of the corsair sword tip. Royal Fortune herself was part of the unofficial Second Corsair Fleet. The Systems Alliance recognized the Corsairs but, as there was official plausible deniability built into the whole organization, there were no overt signs of military support and organization from Arcturus Station. This included the Alliance limiting its activities to assigning starships to the corsairs and disciplining soldiers and officers for incidents connected to their missions. These disciplinary actions usually resulted in an excoriating official denunciation transmitted throughout Citadel Space but little actual punishment of the individual. The Second Corsair Fleet was made up of three flotillas, of which Royal Fortune was part of the Third Flotilla. The carrier was the flagship of the flotilla and was protected by three cruisers (SSV Golden Hind, SSV Breaker, SSV Active), five frigates (SSV Morgan, SSV Teague, SSV Drake, SSV Mason, SSV Pownall), and two corvettes (SSV Trinidad, SSV Islamorada). The Third was a formidable flotilla against the small warlords, pirate gangs, and slaver rings they ran encountered in the Traverse. Cami was, at times, happy to be out here in the galaxy and away from the politics which surrounded her for the past three years.

The smell of vat-grown meat made her stomach rumble in hunger. She had been up for over an hour, working with Blue Squadron's engineer on the finer points of maintaining the Sabres' F-61s. Once again she reflected how different her life was now than it was working with her father on Arcturus Station. Her father. Her cheeks began to flush before Cami strode up to the galley counter for food. She could grieve for her murdered father later, out of sight.

On the opposite side of the counter, working diligently in the squadron's galley, was Deckard Russell. A small smile broke through from her internal grief. Deckard was...something. She was taking any feelings she had for him with a grain of salt. She didn't want to rush into a relationship with someone just because he was a shoulder to cry on.

That's what she kept telling herself, at least. Still, it was hard not to playfully flirt with Deckard. The guy seemed so innocent sometimes that it was a breath of fresh air from the rest of the men she usually met in the Alliance. They had done a lot of soul-searching together when they first met on Arcturus Station. After coming along with him aboard Royal Fortune they had spent each day together. There was a bond growing between them but Cami could not decide if it was friendship or something more; if it was something real or something imagined due to the circumstances.

"What is that smell?" Cami said as she mockingly waved a non-existent odor away from her nose.

"Ha. Ha. Maybe you'd like nothing for breakfast?" Deckard said with a smile as he turned around to face Cami.

"Any vegetarian options?"

Deckard narrowed his eyes at her. "Cami, for the thirty-sixth time, the Sabres don't eat vegetarian. Once again, there is no vegetarian option. Unless you want bread and butter?"

"Tempting…" Cami answered sarcastically. She flashed another smile at Deckard. "I'll take whatever is the standard fare of the day."

He began preparing a dish as he talked. "Then you'll be chowing down on some vat-grown sausage links smothered in kalika cream sauce and toast on the side."

"Kalika cream?"

Deckard leaned across the counter and whispered to Cami. "Actually its batarian yem'veth sauce but don't tell anyone else." He brought his head back into the kitchen. "So yeah, kalika cream, my standard asari-human fusion. I take melted butter and add some kalik juice." He handed the dish to Cami with a knowing stare.

Cami rolled her eyes as she took the plate and then leaned across the counter to whisper to Deckard. "You're so childish sometimes. If you would stop doing stuff like this to them, they might accept you more."

"Yeah well, maybe they need to be less 'humanity first' and more open to the rest of the galaxy?"

"And serving them batarian food disguised as asari food is supposed to help them?"

Deckard shrugged. "Who knows? But it will be funny to see their reactions when they finally learn the truth about what I've been feeding them."

Cami sighed. "You really are a child, aren't you?"

Deckard didn't respond as Caleb Martinez and June Park came into the galley. The politely said hello to Cami before merely acknowledging Deckard with a nod.

"Black Magic," Deckard said to Caleb. "Bug," he greeted June. "Care for some wonderful sausage links, drenched with kalika cream sauce, with a side of toast?"

Caleb eyed him warily but June bounded up to the counter. "I'm hungry enough to eat a krogan."

Deckard laid June's breakfast on the counter which she took with a barely audible 'thank you,' before sitting at the same table as Cami and striking up a conversation. Deckard put the next plate on the counter for Caleb. The pilot gave the food a very obvious sniff before taking the plate and sitting with the two women.

Deckard took the slight jests and lack of respect in stride. He knew he was here to make sure Cami and Bianka would be protected. He didn't want to be everybody's friend. He didn't need to be everybody's friend. What he needed was to be close to the only two people, other than his parents, he cared about in this galaxy.

Yuri 'Redstar' Huguenot and Victor 'Crash' Aragon were the next two pilots from Seager's Sabres to enter. While Caleb and June's reception of Deckard could be described as "cool," the reaction from these two men was frigid. Yuri's only interaction with Deckard before he transferred to squadron had been an orchestrated berating by Bianka to retain her position as leader of the squadron. Except Yuri hadn't been in on the setup, he wholeheartedly believed Deckard was an irresponsible ass who almost fucked up the Sabre's public persona. Victor, on the other hand, treated Deckard as an annoying past lover who hadn't gotten the message across the Bianka had moved on. Deckard was very aware they were sleeping together and what that meant. Yet Victor kept feeling the need to remind Deckard about this fact whenever Bianka wasn't around.

Yuri grunted something when Deckard put his plate on the counter. Victor waited with his plate at the counter until Yuri was seated. The handsome man leaned over the counter and lowered his voice. "I saw you looking at Bianka yesterday."

Deckard leaned in close to Victor as well. "Did you? A man's gotta talk to his commanding officer. Can't do that looking at the ground."

"You know what I mean, chef," Victor replied. "Stop looking at Bianka." He grabbed the plate and began to turn back to the table before Deckard's words stopped him.

"Still think I'm the better man and will win her back? Stamina over good looks?" The room got quiet as Victor slowly turned back around.

"Come say that to my face, you prick," Victor said through gritted teeth.

"Enough!" Bianka barked out from the galley doorway. Everyone in the squad stood at attention. Bianka looked around the room. "At ease," the room relaxed but no one moved from where they were standing. "Crash. Deck. You need to drop this dick measuring contest right now. Do I make myself clear?"

Both men answered with a 'yes ma'am.'

"We all know June has the biggest balls in this squadron, anyways." The other pilots and Cami laughed and snickered at her comment. "As you were." Bianka strode over to the counter and glared at Deckard as he put a plate of food out for her.

"What?" Deckard tried to put as much innocence into the question as he could muster.

"You know damn well," Bianka said quietly. She took the plate and looked at the food. "Thank you." She sat down next to Victor with her food and ate breakfast with the rest of the squadron. Eventually, slowly, conversation returned.

Deckard took his meal in the kitchen, as he usually did. There wasn't much discussion in the small galley. Just mild banter back and forth. Deckard was glad to not be a part of it. Keeping himself detached meant he had a better chance of coming out of this assignment relatively mentally unscathed. And he knew it would go belly up. Someone would die out there. The better he prepare himself for the inevitable.

Bianka was in a conversation with Victor when Cami got up to leave. "Hold it there, chief," Bianka said, catching Cami's attention and everyone else's as well. She took a drink and stood up. "We need to have a mission debrief." Everyone's ears perked up and they paid a little bit less attention to their food.

"I know we were supposed to be sitting this one out but Captain Tanwar personally asked for us in a support capacity." Bianka connected her omni-tool to the vid screen in the galley and projected the mission parameters for everyone to see. "Anhur's been through some shit in the past five years due to the slave rebellions. The economy is still barely functional, mass unemployment, and lots of political and humanitarian protests. The flotilla has been tasked with taking out a supposedly reformed Na'hesit crime lord whom reports say has resumed slave-trading in order to bolster his own wealth. Fighters are going to be the spearpoint planetside. Five squadrons will hit the enclave before the Golden Hind puts marines on the ground. Cap'n's put The Greeks on the bombing run. We're only needed if the shit royally hits the fan."

Bianka looked at Cami. "Chief, how are you coming along working on the F-61s?"

"They're operational and I can make small repairs to the craft. Anything major and we'll have to pull in another squadron engineer."

"Very well, I'll make a request that Blue squadron send over their engineer. As a backup, of course." She flashed a smile at Cami who looked a little crestfallen. "Sabres, let's just keep it loose while we wait. Hopefully, we won't be called into action. The Greeks should find little resistance from the enclave. Even so, suit up and go over flight and weapons check in two hours."

03-14-2180, Three hours later

SSV Royal Fortune, Third Flotilla, Second Corsair Fleet (unofficial) - In Orbit

Anhur, Amun System, Eagle Nebula, Terminus/Traverse Border, Milky Way

The room was dark, slight moans and rustling sheets were the only sounds breaking the silence. Bianka had tried to talk with Victor Aragon about his ongoing antagonism with Deckard but, as it always happened, their talk never materialized and they had ended up in bed. Bianka found it hard to fault herself. Victor was a handsome and brash man who fit her image of someone she wanted to be with. His childish fighting with Deckard notwithstanding, he was the perfect man. So why was she thinking about Deckard in the middle of sex?

Victor was about to enter her before she placed her hands on his chest and pushed him back. "Victor, wait."

"Still not ready huh?" he answered with a roguish smile.

Bianka moved out from under her lover and sat up in bed. Victor sighed and rested on his arm next to her, tracing a pattern on stomach with his other hand. She swatted it away and drew a breath. "Victor, we really do need to talk." Victor simply looked at her. "I'm tired of this fighting between you and Deckard. I don't see why you must be so childish with him."

"Because he **is** a pretentious child who still believes in some fantasy where he can win your heart back."

"So you must berate him for even looking at me?" Bianka's tone was accusatory and not meant to be taken playfully. Which made her all the more upset when Victor laughed.

"He still hasn't gotten the message! Maybe I should make him fight me for once? Trial by combat, for the hand of a truly wonderful princess." Victor didn't read Bianka's mood and rose up to caress her exposed breast. She let out an exasperated sound and got out of bed at his touch. While roughly tugging her clothes back on, the ship's intercom system sprang to life with a chime.

"Lieutenant Seager!" Captain Silas Tanwar sounded very agitated.

"Here, Captain!" Bianka replied in a matching tone.

"I need Black Squadron at the wing command station immediately!" Captain Tanwar cut the feed without waiting for a response.

Bianka had a sinking feeling about what was going to be said to them when they reached their command station. She threw on her omni-tool and brought it to life as she heard Victor get out of bed and move around behind her. She was still fully undressed as she pounded out a message to the entire squadron to meet at the wing command station without delay. When she was finished she found Victor smiling at her, still fully unclothed and ready to continue their carnal activities. She gave a not-so-playful shove and ordered him to get dressed and out to the command station. But, as she forewent her undergarments and slid on compression shorts and tank top before slipping into her flight suit, she gave herself a small smile at seeing his perfect, naked body.

The two lovers reached the command station as other pilots and engineers of The Colors wing came to the auditorium-style room adjacent to their wing's hangers. Bianka noticed, much to her chagrin, that she was the last squadron commander to arrive. Her counterparts, all lieutenant commanders or commanders, were already assembled and talking apart from the rest of the pilots. Gold squadron's commander, Lieutenant Commander Richard Outengast, looked up from the group and gave her a smile. As Bianka made her way over to the other squadron commanders, who were organizationally her subordinates, the meeting broke up as the debrief began.

The wall-sized vid screen had blinked to life and was half-filled by Captain Tanwar's head and torso and the rest filled with streams from various squadrons on Anhur. The room went dead silent as the commanders made their way back to empty seats and pilots and engineers finished filing into the room and taking their seats. The captain looked harried and irritable.

"Alright Colors, I'm activating your wing. Reports planetside have confirmed The Greeks were wholly ineffective against the Na'hesit compound." The vid feeds you see on the screen are from downed pilots. The Greek Wing is effectively at the strength of two squadrons."

The vid feeds all showed downed Tridents and brief sparks as mass effect rounds hit the makeshift cover that the F-61s had become. The feeds faded to be replaced by a wireframe projection of the compound and the downed ships. All were grouped on the northwest and north sides of the circular compound. The projection showed glowing points of light ringing the compound.

"What you see here are the GARDIAN emplacements that we pulled from each pilot's scans and data. I don't know how these turrets were missed but I'm going to raise hell with the Alliance about this faulty and murderous intel! We are going to sweep the compound from the south and southeast with the wing flying in echelon and take out the GARDIANs from a higher altitude. Once that is done, marines from Golden Hind will rush in. I have already been informed Captain Soibu has placed the marines planetside two klicks from the compound in order to help the downed pilots. Commander Moon has Wing Command. Tanwar out."

There were some loud whispers as the pilots talked about the change in leadership of the Wing. Even though Bianka was only a lieutenant, the Sabres had the most experience; the rest of the carrier squadrons had only been formed in the last six months. Bianka caught Commander Moon's eyes as she looked slightly confused. The newly designated wing commander stood up from her seat and shouted everyone down.

"Enough chit-chat pilots. Now isn't the time to figure out what the captain has in mind. Report to your hangers immediately. Meet at your rendezvous points around the Fortune and we'll head down together and blow up this piece of shit. Dismissed!"

The room burst to life as pilots raced to their F-61s and their squadron mechanics ran after them for any last-minute checks or repairs. Bianka glared at Victor before they left. She knew he had held her up in her quarters with his antics. This was one of the times she wished for better taste in men. Those who were unequivocally more responsible than just being tall, dark, and handsome. She outpaced her lover and was surprised to find Cami already in their hangar, checking over performance readouts of their black Tridents.

"Chief! You got here fast!" Bianka said as she slowed herself down.

"Bianka!" Cami said as she almost jumped out of her skin. "What's going on? What's the rush?" Her eyes grew wide and she partially covered her mouth with a hand. "Oh no! Something happened down on Anhur?"

"Slow down, Cami. I thought you heard the Wing alarm?" Bianka immediately dismissed the question before Cami could answer. "Are the old girls ready for a fight?"

"They are. All were loaded and given the once-over as per your orders this morning."

"Good," the rest of the pilots came sprinting through the door and made for their craft. Bianka gave Cami a small two-finger salute as she headed for her own ship. "Keep on the line, chief."

"Aye, aye, ma'am."

The Tridents came to life, their mass effect drives creating a hum in the hanger. The pilots strapped in and began their pre-flight routines, hands moving like a blur about the cockpit controls. Deckard walked into the hangar as the cockpit windows on the five Tridents began to close. Cami caught his eye and waved him over before returning to the terminal and its flow of data coming from the fighters.

"I got the alert a little late," Deckard said with a grimace. "Trouble down on Anhur?"

Cami gave him a nod and bit her lip as she focused on the terminal.

"Bad time to talk I guess?"

Cami responded with a sharp laugh and slid a headset across the table over to Deckard and he slipped it on.

"Deckard! Stop talking to my mechanic and let her work!" Bianka's voice barked out from the newly donned headset.

Cami pushed the "All Clear" indicator on the haptic display and Bianka was the first of the Sabres to disengage from the docking clamps and rocket out of the hangar. She was followed closely by Yuri, Caleb, June, and finally by Victor's craft. The Sabres' flew out of the hangar alongside the rest of their wing. The black and blue-clad fighters pirouetted and righted themselves above their carrier and waited for the rest of the Wing to get in position.

Yuri's voice came through Bianka's comms. "Redstar to Cheetah."

"Go, Redstar."

"What is the captain doing with you and Mad Dog?" Yuri sounded annoyed and frustrated. "To change the Wing Commander right before a mission, it is not good."

"Redstar, it's not for us to speculate why the Captain replaced me as Wing Commander," Bianka replied. "Let's just focus on the mission."

"Roger that, Cheetah," Yuri answered resignedly. The fighters waited for a few seconds more before Commander Moon's voice was broadcast over all the comms.

"Mad Dog to Wing. We are 'green' for bombing run. Set flight trajectories to coordinates being uploaded now and let's burn these bats to hell. Sabres, take the lead."

"Roger, Mad Dog," Bianka confirmed as she and the rest of Sabres' accelerated past the flotilla and angled towards the planet above them.

Anhur was a green-blue planet with two storms currently raging in its western hemisphere. Right now the planet was 'above' the fighters as they streaked towards their objective. They would make the necessary adjustments after they had broken through the atmosphere. The trajectory would bring them over the Henut Ocean, one of nine on the planet, and then across the continent of Ramesses. The topography of Anhur was another source of contention during the recent civil war with batarian and human names for every village, city, mountain, stream, ocean, continent, and more. Anything that could be disputed between the batarians and the humans on Anhur was disputed. Sometimes hate ran so deep that no amount of cultural amalgamation could overcome such entrenched differences. Bianka's father had taught her that simple lesson after one of his many business trips to the Citadel ended in another lost contract or partial deal.

Humans would always have to forge their own path through the galaxy. There was no sense in working with the other aliens in the galaxy since they were just that: aliens. They would always worry about their own species first, why should humanity be the ones to extend the olive branch? Better to adopt the status quo and focus on bettering humanity, since the turians, asari, and salarians only worried about bettering themselves.

The soft jolt of the atmosphere buffeting her Trident brought Bianka back to the task at hand. She gave the order and her squad began to slowly roll their fighters to put them right-side up in relation to the ground. The squadron finished their roll as they were about to break through a thick layer of clouds.

"We will be three minutes out from the target upon breaching the cloud layer, Sabres," Bianka said as she adjusted her pitch. "I want a tight, concave-V formation with targeting systems ready for a high-altitude payload drop. I want two bombing runs followed by laser fire on any remaining GARDIAN installations. Cheetah, out."

"Roger, Cheetah." Her squadron responded in unison. They finally broke through the layer of clouds and could just make out the compound in the distance. Bianka throttled back slightly to let Caleb and June take the lead wide and Victor and Yuri come up in the space between to complete their concave-V.

"Cheetah to Mad Dog," Bianka called out to her wing commander.

"Go, Cheetah." Commander Moon responded.

"Sabres' are in the pipe, five by five. Target looks promising. Hoping for two passes for payload deployment. When is the next squadron on their run?"

"Next squadron three minutes out, Cheetah. Permission for two runs granted. Mad Dog, out."

"Roger, Mad Dog." Bianka switched to her squadron's channel. "We have permission for two runs, let's make it count."

The compound came closer and was practically bristling with GARDIAN emplacements. Maneuvering in the tight space their formation allowed, the Sabres saw the scattered remains of many F-61s littering the surrounding area.

"Sweet baby Jesus, look at it!" Caleb exclaimed.

"Stay on target!" Bianka called out with some strain in her voice. "One minute until payload drop. Climb to ceiling altitude and dive!"

The five fighters promptly angled skywards in a steep climb and then pitched forward, one after the other, as they reached the layer of clouds. It was a dangerous tactic but Bianka was hoping their speed would allow them to confuse the GARDIAN Virtual Intelligence. At 3000 feet the squadron dropped their payloads on the south wall of the compound and immediately pulled up to skim over the compound's inner courtyard. The resulting explosion destroyed two turrets but little other damage was registered against the walls.

Her dive-bombing tactic worked surprisingly well as the GARDIAN lasers undershot their squadron. "Sabres! Loop and hit it again! Target the same spot."

The fighters broke through the clouds as they arced up and over the compound. When they came back down they were met with much heavier fire than originally encountered.

"Son of a bitch!" Victor yelled as his fighter was buffeted by lasers. He broke off to the right, almost taking out Yuri's craft on the way down.

"Crash!" Bianka yelled. But she couldn't follow him with her eyes, the compound was approaching too quickly. "Drop payload and then circle low and to starboard!"

The payloads were dropped and impacted the wall again. A section toppled but Bianka couldn't celebrate. As her squadron's Tridents screamed over the compound from their last dive, GARDIAN lasers and surface-to-air missiles buffeted the fighters. Caleb was destroyed in a roaring explosion. June's cry for her friend came over the squadron's comms. The three remaining pilots were able to skirt away from the compound but Bianka's readouts of her squadron's fighters showed all of them were suffering from major damage. Bianka couldn't dwell on the others. Her fingers flew over her cockpit's haptic controls, trying to restart the damaged mass effect generators. It was little use.

"Crash landing! Crash landing!" Bianka called out without panic. "Cheetah to Wing Command, bring force to bear-!" Bianka's fighter skidded across the ground and she dropped off comms upon impact. The fighter was just one more surrounding the compound as it skidded to a stop among the rest of the Tridents littering the ground.

Yuri and June continued northward after Bianka's crash. Their fighters were shot up and barely operable. Yuri started a scan for a suitable area to put down the ships. Finding such a suitable area was severely hampered by the fact there were no wheels on the fighters. This was going to be a hard landing no matter where they put down.

Yuri accelerated the fighter to bring it alongside June's. "Redstar to Bug."

June's voice was audible and expressed a profound sadness. "Bug here."

"Bug, we have to bring these craft down. I see a flat plain of grass five klicks ahead. Ease up on the throttle so we can complete a fly-by." His command was met with silence as they streaked through the sky. "Bug, do you read me?" More silence. "June! Answer me!"

"I read you, Redstar. Take the lead."

Yuri clenched his fist. Caleb was dead and his loss was a tough blow. But a pilot needed to be stronger than this. He gritted his teeth in annoyance. A field of yellow came up beneath them. "There it is, Bug. Let's get a closer look. Copy?"

"I copy, Redstar."

The fighters angled downward and another scan told Yuri this was as flat a location as they were going to get. He made a wide turn to port and looked over his right shoulder to confirm June was still following him.

"Alright Bug, let's bring them down." He dropped to just above the tree line on his approach. "Throttle back." The field came into view again and Yuri thought to himself they were still going much too fast. "Throttle back. Level out." His steady voice walked through each step of their hard landing with June. "Here we go," he said just before hitting the ground

The fighter immediately tore through the grass and, even at its low airspeed, still smacked into the ground with bone-jarring force. Yuri's helmet hit the back of his seat and his lower back shot with pain from the impact. The fighter tore up the ground as it slid across the field on its belly. Once the Trident came to a stop, Yuri popped the hatch and clambered out of the cockpit.

He looked around and saw June's craft on the ground 1000 feet away. Her landing was harder as the right flange of her fighter had been torn loose. She must not have been level with the ground as she was now perched on her right side at a forty-five-degree angle. This angle blocked his view of his fellow pilot; he couldn't tell if she had survived the landing.

Putting the thought out of his mind he tore off his helmet and tossed it back into the cockpit. Leaning into the craft he pulled the Raikou pistol from its holster behind his seat. He snapped the pistol onto his left hip and checked his flight suit to make sure he had rations. He found two and Yuri made a mental note to get off this rock within two days. Finally, he pulled down a flap on his flight jacket and activated his emergency beacon. The beacon would ping the nearest Alliance military comm-link and alert Royal Fortune to his location. He knew they were, at most, eight klicks from compound due to their maneuvers, hopefully they would make it back for a pickup in time and not be stranded out here.

Yuri walked over to June's downed fighter to help her and get moving back towards the compound. While rescue was the ultimate goal, he needed to get back to Bianka and Victor. Four guns were better than two. He picked his way around the crashed Trident and its debris trail and found June sitting on the ground, leaning against the ship. Her helmet was still on and yet she still managed to look defeated.

"Bug, you okay?" He asked gruffly.

June turned her head to Yuri and gave him a small nod. She then sighed and took off her helmet. Her cheeks were red from crying. "We getting out of this Yuri?"

"Not by sitting here." June cast down her eyes at the remark. "June…" He wasn't very good at this sort of thing. "Caleb was a good pilot. I need you focused. The Na'hesit may come looking for us and this field isn't the best place to make a stand." He offered a hand to June and she took it. Yuri hauled her up to her feet.

"He was just there one moment and then…"

"We need to go back to the compound and look for Bianka and Victor," Yuri answered, hoping to deflect any emotional response. "You okay to walk?"

June nodded her head and blinked back tears. "I'm okay to walk, Yuri."

"Good," Yuri moved around the shaken pilot and pulled her own Raikou out of the fighter craft and attempted to hand it to her. June just looked at the gun so Yuri slapped it onto her right hip for her. Possibly a little harder than necessary. "Activate your beacon, we must move."

June nodded again and turned on her beacon as she trudged after Yuri.

03-14-2180, 1107 Alliance Standard Time

SSV Royal Fortune, Third Flotilla, Second Corsair Fleet (unofficial) - In Orbit

Anhur, Amun System, Eagle Nebula, Terminus/Traverse Border, Milky Way

Cami and Deckard stood on either side of the terminal in their squadron's hangar. They had been patched into the squadron's comms to stay in contact and, potentially, help walk a pilot through any basic repairs. The display, now flashing red, had shown readouts and images of each Trident in the squadron to provide enough information for Cami to understand what mechanical problems needed to be repaired before the fighter ever made it back to the hangar.

What the readout showed was hopeless and despairing. Caleb's information was blank. The terminal had shown a readout of 'Connection Lost with Pilot' right after a direct hit was registered to the cockpit. Victor's fighter was operable but his altitude showed '0,0,0' and there was no speed displayed as well. Yuri and June's craft showed multiple warnings and June's fighter had catastrophic structural damage. They both heard how the two had crash landed but, with no signal from their emergency beacons received yet, they hoped the pilots survived their hard landings. Bianka was also out of contact. Her crash landing had ripped the fuselage off the starboard side and underbelly of the Trident and she had been out of communication since the crash.

Deckard reached out his gloved, left hand towards Cami. She gently took his hand in her right and gave it a very soft squeeze.

"I'm going down there," Deckard declared as he stared at the terminal.

"What?"

"I can't just stay up here and let them die," he turned to look at Cami. "I'm a member of this squadron, aren't I? I need to help."

Cami gave him a hard look. "You're going down there for her, aren't you?" Deckard returned her accusation with silence. "I knew it!" She pulled her hand out of his grasp and clenched it into a fist. "Dammit Deck…" She drew a deep breath to steady herself. "Just go."

Deckard was about to say something but instead stalked out of the hangar bay and made his way to his quarters. Opening his footlocker he pulled out his armor and began to suit up. The formerly green armor had been painted black and blue upon his assignment to the Sabres. Once his body armor was in place he pulled out his Avenger sniper rifle. He had kept the rifle despite the more powerful models available to him now that he was a part of the Corsairs, only modifying it with a new scope and barrel. He smiled fondly as he remembered asking Cami to install the modifications for him. Ostensibly it was for her benefit since she was the squadron's engineer but really Deckard knew it was because he wanted to spend more time with her.

He kicked himself for his behavior with Cami in the hanger but he wasn't going to deny the primary reason he needed to get down to the surface of Anhur. He had a promise to keep. He could sort out the relationship problems when Bianka was back aboard Royal Fortune. He wasn't going to let someone else he cared about die. He slapped a Kessler pistol onto his right hip and tucked his helmet under his arm as he strode out of his quarters and towards the bridge.

The bridge was a flurry of activity as the crew tried to keep up with the bombing campaign against the Na'hesit compound. From the frantic looks and the hurried orders and reports, it didn't look like the Na'hesit were making it very easy on the Corsairs. Deckard spotted Captain Tanwar in the middle of the bridge, as all Alliance vessels were designed the same.

The older man wore a partially opened dress jacket with, somehow, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Deckard thought it must have been terribly uncomfortable. Captain Tanwar was from the Conglomerated Nations of Southeast Asia, in particular, the city of Dhaka, and stood 5'7" with hard features. Given his size, he was an imposing man when dealing with him face-to-face. The crew knew the captain's backstory well as he told it to all new personnel assigned to his ship.

Silas Tanwar grew up with his brother Trian Tanwar in Dhaka. They had a life of luxury since their father was a successful pre-fabricated housing mogul. They both excelled in schooling and were even better in their local urban combat league. Unfortunately, Trian had the size while Silas had superior skills. Trian was drafted into the professional UC league and eventually made the national team while Silas joined the military and worked his way up the ladder.

What everyone also quickly realized about Captain Silas Tanwar was his fierce, some would say radical, pro-humanity views. From the first time Deckard had met the man he knew right away that he hated him. His racist views and slurs could make even the most hardened sailor blush. Deckard braced himself before approaching the ship's XO.

The sound of his boots hitting the metal deck as he approached caught the XO's attention. The man flashed Deckard an annoyed look before turning back to his terminal. "Yes, what is it marine?"

Deckard realized this guy was out of the loop and uncaring about the crewmembers of this ship. They had no marines aboard, none that Deckard knew of anyways, but he let the comment slide. "I'm seeking permission to join a shore-party for the rescue and recovery of survivors, sir."

"Rescue, huh?" He glanced over his shoulder at the surrounding chaos. "We've got a shitstorm already just keeping The Colors airborne. The captain may not sanction any type of ground activity, especially since the Hind's marines are already on the ground. What division you with, son?"

Deckard really hated it when officers called him "son" but, as always, he swallowed the disrespect and plowed through the conversation. "I'm with the Sabres, sir. I also have shore party experience from my previous assignment aboard Shetland."

The XO paused before giving a short nod and speaking with Captain Tanwar. Silas Tanwar stood up and turned around to greet Deckard.

"So the Survivor of Lohse wants to prove his worth once again?" Tanwar chided, his question tinged with his local accent. "You think you can kill battle-hardened bats as easily as you did a couple slavers? These aren't the same four-eyed and spike fucks that caught your balls in a vise over Ontarom." Deckard's eyes narrowed at the captain's callous remarks about his former captain's military prowess.

Silas looked him up and down and gave a slight nod of his head towards the bridge elevator door. "Fine. I heard the strike team could use a sniper anyway."

"Strike team, sir?" Deckard asked with a slight cock of his head.

"Just some joint work with another group. Common interest in killing spikes and bats and all that shit. It's need to know, Chief Russell." He turned his back to Deckard and sat in his CIC chair before calling over his shoulder. "You'll find them in Hangar 34. I'll let them know you're coming but you better hurry. Now get the hell off my bridge and let me work."

Deckard skipped a salute and hurried off the bridge. Elevators, for all of the wonderful technology in the galaxy today, were notoriously slow. He jammed the button for the hangar bay where Hangar 34 was located. Then jammed it three more times until the doors closed.

After an excruciatingly long time in the elevator, the chime sounded and the doors slid open. Deckard jogged out to make it to the hangar in as short a time as possible. He ran past three hangars before reaching 34. He was greeted on the other side by four soldiers with very expensive looking black armor all pointing assault rifles at the door.

"Whoa!" Deckard shouted out as he put his hands up.

"Who are you?" The middle soldier demanded through a voice modulator.

"Operations Chief Deckard Russell! What the hell is going on here?"

"Shut it! Why are you in this hangar?"

"You're the strike team going down to Anhur, right? Captain Tanwar sent me down."

There was a brief moment of silence before the leader pulled his weapon up and the others followed suit. Everyone relaxed before the door opened again. There was a feminine yell as the rifles were leveled at the newcomer.

"Who are you?" The leader demanded again, this time with more edge to his voice, heard even through the modulation.

"She's with me!" Deckard spoke out as he stepped in front of the guns. "Although I don't know why she's here."

"Service Chief Cami Wilmot. I'm just here keep this moron safe," Cami said as she motioned towards Deckard with her head.

The group's leader adjusted his grip on his assault rifle before stepping away from the group and bringing a hand up to his helmet, talking with someone over their comms. The other three soldiers kept their weapons pointed at the two sailors. Deckard looked up and down Cami, he didn't even know she owned a set of armor but it was obviously custom-made, unlike Deckard's. Her armor was not, however, custom-painted like his. But then again, there would be no reason for it to be painted like his armor. She also gave his armor a once-over and her subsequent glare spoke volumes that their earlier disagreement was far from over.

The leader of the black-clad group returned. "We've got the okay to bring you two along." He pointed an accusatory finger at both of them. "But don't get in our fucking way. We have a mission, you go and try to save whomever you want. The shuttle holds ten, we're bringing back one more so that leaves four seats. Don't try to save the whole fucking planet."

 **Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think in your reviews. If you love it don't forget to Favorite and Follow to stay up to date with new chapter releases.**


	4. Act I: Chapter 2 - The Path of Light, 1

**I don't own Mass Effect. So don't go spreading any rumors.**

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 **A/N:** Many thanks to user LogicalPremise for their excellent work _No Single Raindrop_. If you want to write about asari, read _No Single Raindrop_ first.

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Act I: Liberator  
Chapter 2: Path of Light, Part 1

The Sisters

 _03-15-2180  
_ _Trident, Hoplos System, Hades Nexus, Attican Traverse, Milky Way_

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Few things get your blood pumping like running for your life. So far this week I've had to run for my life three times. It's exhilarating. The wind against your face as you pump your legs as fast as you can after being in a running firefight. Your body slick with sweat and the resultant body odor making you question your choices in life. All of these factors added up to a truly euphoric experience as mass accelerated grains of sand nipped around you, looking for flesh.

I have to say that I thoroughly expected to end up in this situation again. Trident wasn't known for the rule of law. The only law was made at the end of a barrel on this planet. Whether it was from a corporate goon or, as in my case, from a very irate batarian slaver. I ducked around a corner of one of the pre-fabricated structures Desril Conglomerate had erected to house their factory workers as more rounds thundered into the ground behind me. A directed biotic field threw back the two slaver goons who were attempting to wound me or flush me out for their nominal leader to finish off.

Desril Village had once held 300 workers from other human colonies in the Traverse. That was before the corporation went tits up due to a bad gamble on uranium prices. I should know, President Huerta chaired the Natural Resources Allocation Subcommittee and approved the lack of response from the Systems Alliance. Huerta and the subcommittee agreed that some corporations had to fail so that others speculating in the Traverse would take notice. What was left of Desril Village after the relocation of the workers was a perfect fiefdom for any lawless group who could hold onto it.

Ghansi Kallresh had been a lowlife slaver in the Traverse for most of the last three years. Yet, within the last year, he managed to consolidate no less than five small slaver operations all under his leadership. With the expanded income from his increased slave trade, the fool managed to buy enough mercenaries to capture Desril from the previous crime boss. While these things happened regularly in the lawless sections of the galaxy, it was Ghansi's quick jump from common slaver trash to small-time slaver boss that caught my attention after our other leads were exhausted.

Fortunately, the other leads were no longer able to cause trouble in the Traverse. This only meant some colonies or towns would have a couple months of reprieve between slaver raids instead of a couple of weeks. There were always more desperate individuals who took to pirating or slaving in order to make a quick credit.

I centered myself, slowed my breathing, and peeked around the corner. Metal pinged as another assault rifle blast hit the corner of the building. I took off in a sprint once more, my destination was the edge of the village and the rocky interior of the small island I was on. There was also someone waiting for me at the edge of the village.

"Tell me I'm in your sights," I asked as I wove my way around buildings and down streets worn into the grass.

The answer came back over the comms in my helmet. "I've got ya 'Resa. Fine looking swish you have going on when you run." A pop added punctuation to The Girl's comments.

"Are you...are you chewing bubble gum?" I asked incredulously.

"Maybe," another clacking pop and chewing sounds.

"When I get up there-"

"Turn right," The Girl interrupted and I quickly broke to my right down a small alley. Right after I turned, a loud rapport sounded from off in the distance as my Sister fired a round from her massive sniper rifle.

"-I'm going to kick your ass," I finished. "Did you get the fool?"

"Right in the middle of his forehead," another pop. "People should wear more helmets, don't you think?"

I laughed to myself. The Girl, Aiels T'Doran, had proven very capable of calming me down during this past month as we tracked down lead after lead regarding the attack on Lohse by batarian and turian slavers. It wasn't just the physicality of our renewed relationship that helped me calm down. The Girl had changed since I had last spoken with her 60 years ago. She was still the carefree, selfish woman I had always known. Yet now she more or less knew when to batten down and take responsibility for her actions. Though her idea of when to batten down and take responsibility left room for improvement.

I rushed past another house as small arms fire kicked up the earth around me. I saw a clearing ahead of me, judged the distance, and biotically charged to it in a blink of the eye. I took a step to gather my thoughts and took off in a run once more. The charge wore me out a bit and my run quickly became a jog. Thankfully, the edge of the jungle was fast approaching.

"I'm almost there at the edge. I'll need some more covering fire." I said through heavy breaths.

"I've got one more round with a slaver's name on it then I'll come join you," another klack of that damn human candy in her mouth.

"Spit that thing out! You sound like a wild animal!"

"Yes, matriarch!" Another pop from a bubble.

I grunted out in frustration as I stormed into the jungle and situated myself behind a tangle of brush. Pointing my rifle back towards the village I waited to see what Ghansi had sent after me. Another boom above me signaled The Girl's parting shot in our reconnaissance mission. I kept my eyes down the sights of my sea-blue Torrent. Two scouts came around from the right, looking for where I had entered the jungle, perhaps.

While I might have been able to dispatch them with my biotics I was afraid a weapon would go off and then I'd have to wait for patrols to pass us by all over again. Being on a small island in the tropics of Trident, there wasn't much jungle to hide in to begin with. I let the scouts go about their business. Hopefully, Ghansi didn't have any varren. Evading sentient beings was easy enough, trying to evade a creature bred for tracking was not my idea of fun.

I slowly crept away from the brush after I felt that the patrol was far enough away to not hear my movements. I picked my way through the jungle and came upon a cleft in a hill that we had picked out as our camp for the night. It wasn't much, just a gap in the rock that was ten paces wide and clear of most vegetation. The Girl had found this spot the night before.

The Girl. She had hammered into my head that her name was never to be spoken. Her reputation as 'The Girl' had actually gotten us the intel which led to this spit of rock and jungle in the middle of an ocean. While Trident was made up of 95% ocean, the sheer number of archipelagos and other island outcroppings necessitated knowing almost exactly where you needed to go. You also didn't want to be caught in the middle of a corporate war which broke out rather regularly on the planet. The information she brokered with a port agent had pointed us in the right direction and helped us avoid the worst corporate violence taking place in the world. We had to leave the aircar on a relatively safe island in this archipelago and hire a local boat to take us to the uninhabited side of the island. While we asked the boat to return in three days, the human captain had not seemed very trustworthy.

Taking my helmet off, I rested on the soft ground and began to eat some field rations. Sure, it was made up of traditional asari ingredients but no one in their right mind actually liked eating field rations. I let out a startled yell when a small pop occurred right next to me. I quickly turned and was ready to let fly with a biotic punch when I saw it was just Aiels, laughing quietly at her joke.

"Bitch," I hissed. "Are you trying to get yourself killed by startling me?"

"I thought you liked being startled?" She pulled out her own field ration and tore off the top of the packaging. She paused, lost in thought. "Or was that Remina?"

"That was Remina and you know it. While I appreciate your levity, it doesn't mean that every moment has to be filled with your brand of humor."

"Spare me. I know when to be serious. Those fools didn't hear you yell." She gave me a wink as she tore off a piece of the field ration. "Maybe toknife tey will," she said with a mouthful of food.

"You're impossible." I looked around our campsite and the jungle beyond. "I'm going to scout the area," I unclipped the assault rifle from my back and let it expand in my hands. I gave the weapon a thorough inspection as I had been trained and turned my back to Aiels.

"I'll be here," The Girl said nonchalantly.

I picked my way through the brush as quietly as I could. To my left was the large rock hill that jutted out from the middle of this relatively small island. On my right, down the gentle slope, was the vast Set Ocean which surrounded the archipelago that this small, unnamed island was a part of. The sun was setting and I could make out the movement of some form of colossal marine life near the horizon as a hump breached the water and snaked along the surface.

I longed for a time of calm shores and gentle breezes where I could sit and watch the ocean's dance in the morning and bask in the revelry of the evening. Yet some things were far from being attained. My own discovery of myself was still incomplete. Even though two and a half centuries is a long time by the standards of the humans I had been around for the last couple of decades, I was still considered a young adult to my people. I had many lives yet to live. Many people still to meet.

As I picked my way through the underbrush I thought of what I would do after this adventure. Maybe head to Thessia and spend time integrating all that I've learned about the human political system with the General Assembly. Maybe find a niche as a political consultant, even. I sat down on a rock with a view overlooking the swale I had just climbed. Perhaps I could become a trainer of biotic humans and live on Earth again. President Huerta would certainly help me in finding my way through all of the lovely human bureaucracy. Though their idea of bureaucracy paled in comparison to Thessia's finely honed brand of-

A blue hand clasped over my mouth as I was roughly pulled to the ground. A sack was shoved over my head and something was clamped around my neck, holding the sack in place. I tried to biotically throw off my attackers but was unable to do so.

The collar! It was like having my hands cut off and my eyes gouged out. I was helpless and terrified. I wanted to run but instead my arms were bound and I was heft up and carried along by my assailants. No sound had been made from my attackers, which was all the more terrifying. The fear coursing through my body even stopped me from shouting out to Aiels for help.

I was being carried by two individuals. One holding my shoulders and the other holding my ankles. Aiels would think of an off-color joke about my current predicament; I in no way felt jovial at the situation. They carried me for what seemed five minutes before I started to hear the echo of footsteps. The echoing footsteps spoke to a large, enclosed space and I would have noticed any large buildings on the island. Plus, if I was being brought back to the village, the most direct route was past our camp and Aiels would have noticed me. Therefore, we must be in a cave on the island. Thoughts of being thrown into an underground lake or river crept into my thoughts. I leaned on my considerable combat training to keep this new fear at bay and to continue to take in what my senses were telling me. Whatever troublesome waters awaited me, I would face them without reverting to a sniveling young maiden.

My captors brought me deeper into this supposed cave we were in until I was roughly thrown to the ground. A set of footsteps retreated while another shuffled around my head. Suddenly the sack was ripped off and I was face-to-face with another asari standing over me, her legs on both sides of my body. This was the opening I needed.

I flung my right leg up to kick my captor in the back. My boot connected with the asari and she stumbled forward. A snarl escaped her throat as she regained her balance. I tried to get my feet under me to stand up but she swept my feet out from under me with a directed biotic push. I landed with a groan on the uneven floor of the cavern and the other asari pounced on top of my chest to keep me from getting up again. To punctuate her frustration a fist was pressed against my right temple.

"Cease your resistance, Eclipse!" The asari said through gritted teeth. Her eyes spoke volumes about her anger and how she was barely keeping it under control.

I glared back at her. "I am not a mercenary! Now take this Athame-cursed collar off of me!"

I received a strong biotic slap across my face. "How dare you profane the name of the goddess."

Profane the name of the goddess? Not many asari fully believed in the goddess anymore. Many of us were siarist, holding the belief that everything in the galaxy is connected, everything is related, and there is something beyond this physical veil we call life. Myself, I was more of an unbeliever of everything. More intriguing to me right now were the human Judeo-Christian god and the god they called Buddha. Not many asari would take offense to the common epitaph of using Athame's name as a curse. Only temple priestesses or guardian zealots. Shit.

"This is a bit far from Thessia for the Light to travel," I said smugly.

The asari guardian considered my words for a moment. "The blasphemy of Athame knows no planetary bounds. Why are you and the other maiden on this island?"

I briefly considered lying to the war priestess but, if she was whom she appeared to be, there would be no use in hiding the truth from her for long. "We came here to investigate the slaver attack on Ontarom last year. I'm here to question Ghansi Kallresh."

She stared at me before grasping the biotic inhibitor around my neck. "Do you swear, on Holy Athame's Name, that you will not attempt to retaliate against my Sisters and me?"

"I swear."

The collar was undone and I reveled in the ability to feel my biotics again. I was tempted to let the energy flow across my body but my captor may have reacted poorly to such a display. Instead, I asked her to let me sit up, which she did by sliding off of me.

We sat on the cave floor looking at each other. I nursed my wounds and she twirled the collar around in her hand. I didn't know what she was waiting for or if she was testing my promises not to attempt to harm her. Eventually she spoke to me again.

"My Sisters and I were sent to this lawless world on our own investigation. What I can tell you is that we have the same target. Ghansi Kallresh, in his nascent audacity, conducted a raid on the minuscule colony of Zesmeni. Since the corporations there have the backing of Thessia, we were dispatched."

"What? That makes no sense. Why would they send paladins?"

She gave me a knowing nod of her head. "The only answer I'm willing to give you now is that we do not question the high priestess' orders. My Sisters and I were asked to rid the galaxy of Ghansi Kallresh and that is what we are trying to accomplish." She stood up and offered me her hand. "I apologize for your rough treatment. We were unsure why you were on the island."

I took the proffered hand and pulled myself up to look eye-to-eye with the zealot. "And killing members of the slaver gang didn't convince you?"

She shrugged. "You could have been two stupid Eclipse mercs who thought they would win that Blasphemer's favor with your actions." She looked me over from head to toe. "Though you are too well-equipped to be young Eclipse maidens."

I was lead out of the small room in the cave where I had been dropped and into another cave much liked the one I was in before. "How did you find these caverns?"

"We stumbled upon the caverns during our initial reconnaissance of the island. This was the Desril Mine. We don't know why Ghansi hasn't restarted mining the ore here."

"How many of you are here?"

"There are four of us."

"Just four? Ghansi's gang seems a bit much for four priestesses to handle."

She gave me a hard look. "Then you are truly ignorant about your supposed knowledge of my order." She flicked open an omni-tool and then quickly closed it. "Come. They have brought your scarred friend but she is being...troublesome."

I barked out a laugh. "I would be more surprised to see her calmly sitting in a corner."

The sounds of fighting greeted us as we entered the first large cave that made up the cavern system. A dying light shone in from the outside. Aiels, still wearing her own biotic inhibitor, was taking on a stocky asari in hand-to-hand fighting. She was giving what punishment she was receiving but looked the worse for wear. The stocky asari, for her part, was supremely angry about something. I soon found out what started the fight when she yelled at Aiels in a husky voice.

"Profane the name of the goddess one more time and I will not hold back!"

Aiels staggered and wiped blood from her lip with the back of her hand. "Athame's azure, sweetie, lighten-"

She was cut off by a vicious biotic throw which slammed her against a stalagmite, breaking the rock in two. I rushed over to Aiels as the paladin with me went to her Sister.

"By the goddess, she could have killed you!" I said as I helped Aiels stand up.

"Bitch needs to let the wind take her sails. So stuck up about everything." She was breathing heavily and no doubt her back was screaming in pain.

The four priestesses formed a semicircle in front of us. "We do not tolerate any blasphemy against the goddess," the one whom I had been speaking with earlier stated. "My Sisters and I wish to discuss your presence on this island and our mission. You will find some food, medical supplies, and water in that cavern." The priestess pointed to an opening and held her arm out. The message was simple: Leave us alone. Now.

"Thank you," I answered with a polite dip of my head. "But shouldn't we at least exchange names? I do not feel like being directed around by a stranger."

The priestess dropped her outstretched arm before rolling her shoulder in a shrug. "It matters little who we are or who you are. What matters are your actions. Once we decide your fate we will then consider whether to divulge our names. Now leave us."

I supported Aiels as we crossed the room and entered the other cavern. Immediately after entering a biotic barrier was thrown up to block the entrance.

"Those bitches!" Aiels snarled. She glared at me before turning her attention back to the barrier. "Why did you let them imprison us?"

"Aie-" another quick glare; I rolled my eyes, "You really don't know who they are?" She narrowed her eyes in frustration at the question. "They are war priestesses. Sisters of the Celestial Bodies. Keepers to Athame's Eternal Flame." Aiels just shrugged. "They are the Path of Light!"

Aiels considered what I had said for a moment. "Oh."

I threw my hands up in exasperation. "You're supposed to have more self-preservation than to go picking a fight with a paladin!"

"Well, how was I supposed to know? They don't have any goddess-damned insignia on their armor! I thought it was a team sent by Jona."

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Any Eclipse sent by Jona would proudly display their affiliation. Also, their reaction to your continued use of Athame's name as a vulgarity didn't strike you as odd?"

"I just thought they were odd women. Look," she pointed a finger at my face, "all I'm trying to do is preserve me. I didn't want to end up in a bag and taken to Jona…" Aiels eyes drifted down to my neck. "Why don't you have an inhibitor on?"

"The priestess with me took it off."

"Why didn't they take off mine!"

"Because you were an insolent fool." The voice came from the doorway where all four asari stood watching us. "Why would Blasphemer Sederis want you captured?"

Aiels was about to say something in defiance but I caught her hand. I shook my head when she looked at me. "Tell them."

"I disrespected her...and my Sisters."

"The Sisterhood?" The priestess asked.

"Yes," Aiels and I answered together.

The priestess rounded on me. "So you lied to me. You are Eclipse mercenaries."

It was my turn to be defiant. "We are no longer Eclipse. The Girl was thrown out and I left in protest."

One of the other priestesses, the skinny one, spoke up. "The Blasphemer would never let you leave voluntarily."

I glanced at Aiels and then back at the priestesses. "She was...calmed...after her punishment," I tilted my head towards Aiels. "We are under strict orders to never enter Eclipse territory again."

The stocky paladin laughed. "That is a ridiculous threat. The Eclipse gain and lose territory and contractual agreements all the time. How would you know if you violate the terms of your separation unless you stayed within Inner Council or Systems Alliance space? You could never travel to the Colonies."

Aiels clenched her fists. "That's the point."

"This is getting us nowhere," the priestess who took off my inhibitor stated. "While I'm sure your past dealings with the Eclipse would make for fascinating bedtime stories with maidens like yourselves, we have more pressing matters. Seeing as we share a common target on this island and that letting you go would only risk yourselves being caught in our assault or the possibility that our activity would be compromised: We have, reluctantly, agreed to let both of you help us in our assault on Desril Village. Your earlier activity in the village has proven you both can handle yourselves in a fight. However, there are certain rules you must follow." She began to tick them off with her fingers. "First, you may not profane the goddess' name during the mission. Second, you may not kill innocents. Third, you must keep up with us. Fourth, you may not question Ghansi Kallresh without one of us present. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes," I answered immediately.

"I suppose," Aiels answered at the same time. The paladins stared at her. "Yeah, yeah. I heard you."

"Since we are allowed to help you in your assault, please tell us your names," I asked.

The lead priestess nodded her head slightly in acquiescence. "I am Paladin Ravone." She pointed to the priestess to her left, a thin but muscular woman with hawkish features. "This is Paladin Freana." She pointed next to the priestess on the far right of the group, who was tall with dark purple skin. "Paladin Benar." She finally clapped the stocky priestess next to her on the shoulder. "And this is Paladin Lycelle. We are all sworn Sisters of the Moon and have seen horrors in this galaxy that would make you wish you were back in your Matriarch's House."

"Thank you, Paladin Ravone." I bowed my head out of respect her order demanded. "I am Daresa U'Rona."

"You can refer to me as The Girl," Aiels stated.

"Very well," Paladin Ravone said as she walked towards Aiels. My lover backed away slightly but Ravone grabbed hold of her inhibitor before she could fully pull away. Roughly tugging Aiels towards her, the paladin unhooked the collar from her neck. "You will have three hours to rest. See if her back needs healing. There is medigel in the footlocker. After three hours we will begin to talk about your incorporation into our plan."

The three hours passed by rather dully in our cavern alcove. I gave Aiels a dose of medigel which considerably eased her back pain. We then sat around and each took a nap in shifts. While Aiels thought I was crazy not to be wary of the Sisters of the Moon, I thought she was a fool for believing they would double-cross us. There was no perceivable gain for the war priestesses to see us dead.

Finally, Paladin Benar arrived. She bore three white lines on each side of mouth which reminded me of the Terran domesticated feline. I had to suppress a smirk at the thought. The paladin was clad for battle. Her armor had the insignia of her order on the left breastplate and on her back she wore a warp sword. The paladin came into the alcove without a word, picked up a container of food, and mentioned with her head that we should follow her. Through the cavern we walked until we came to an office built into the rock that must have been used by Desril Corporation as a foreman's office.

The other three paladins were waiting for us and they were also ready for battle. Each of their dull blue armor had the Sisters of the Moon insignia - the relaria bird in midflight in front of a thin, silver crescent moon - emblazoned on the left breastplate. Like Benar, they wore a warp sword on their backs - Paladin Lycelle actually had two swords - no other weapons could be seen on them. Placed on the table, in front of two chairs, were my collapsed Torrent assault rifle and Pinnacle pistol and Aiels' modified turian sniper rifle. Aiels rushed past me and expanded her sniper rifle without any thought of her actions in order to inspect the weapon.

Aiels action's provoked an odd response from the paladins as they moved into defensive postures and placed a hand, or in Lycelle's case, hands, onto the hilts of their swords. Aiels was too busy thinking about herself to notice the hostility in the room.

I raised my hands slowly and motioned for the paladins to relax. "Let's calm down. The Girl's just a bit excited to have her weapon back."

Paladin Ravone grunted but took her hand away from her sword. "Manners seem to have been lost on this maiden."

Paladin Benar placed the container she was holding on the table and opened it. She began throwing packets of food to each of her Sisters. The quiet paladin then placed two packets of food near our places at the table but in no way showed that she was giving them to us directly.

I walked up next Aiels and pushed her sniper rifle onto the table with my left hand. A small sound of protest escaped her lips before her eyes met mine.

"Not the time," I admonished her through gritted teeth.

She got the message and instead leaned over the table to pull the food packets towards our seats. Aiels ripped it open and tore into the food. With a full mouth she turned to Ravone, "Furs, I haf manners," she swallowed what she had been chewing on. "Second, I choose not to use them all of the time. Third, what is our tides-be-damned role in this assault?"

Paladins Benar and Freana glared at Aiels. Paladin Lycelle looked dumbfounded that someone would dare speak to Ravone in such a manner. For her part, Paladin Ravone looked exasperated. "Insolent and impatient," Ravone answered in the same tone a school teacher would use talk to a young pupil. "We shall thank the goddess for our food first," Aiels took another bite but stopped mid-chew as she caught Ravone's glare. "Then we will eat. Once we are done eating we will then discuss the assault."

Aiels gave a little cough and some food crumbs flew out of her mouth and onto the table.

"Finish chewing, you insolent maiden!" Ravone yelled. I merely groaned and shrank into my seat. This was not a good way to begin working with each other. Aiels finished chewing and was biotically slapped on the top of her crest. "If you continue to act like a school-age maiden then I will continue to treat you as one," Ravone said in quiet, threatening tones. "Now, let us give thanks to Athame."

The priestesses bowed their heads and each made a circle with their hands by touching their fingertips together. Aiels glared at Paladin Ravone while I dropped my head out of respect.

"Athame, Keeper of Secrets, we bring righteous praise to your name with the provisions laid before us. Let this food give us the sustenance needed tonight. We ask for your Light to guide our bodies as instruments of your righteous judgment and supremacy. We ask that our...companions...share equally in your blessing. Athame, Warden of the Eternal Flame of Light, Bulwark of the Asari, and High Priestess of Thessia, hear us in our time of prayer."

With the prayer ended, the paladins and I opened up the food packets and began to eat. Aiels watched us all with a smirk on her face but said nothing. The six of us ate in silence for the rest of the meal. I tried to keep an even-keeled expression on my face while Aiels sat that smiling like an idiot. The war priestesses were entirely unimpressed and perturbed at Aiels demeanor throughout the meal. I thought again, for what had to be the hundredth time, why I ever wanted to take Aiels along with me to begin with.

When the meal was finished, Paladin Benar took the food storage container off of the table and opened up her omni-tool. The table came to life with a wireframe projection of Desril Village. Aiels sat up just a little bit straighter in her seat while I leaned forward, eager to begin hearing about the paladin's assault plan. Paladin Ravone rose from her seat and placed her hands behind her back.

"The assault's main objectives are the interrogation and elimination of Ghansi Kallresh. Our secondary objective is the destruction of his main compound in Desril Village. Our tertiary objective is the rescue of any slaves held in the compound." Aiels shifted in her seat as a lycanth would coil itself before diving on its prey. "With these factors in mind, let us go over our movements."

Desril Village was shaped like a crescent, the longer arc stretching away from the bay and towards the island's small jungle. Along this outside arc, there was one official entrance to the village. It was the entrance the workers used to go to and from the mine we were sitting in every day. There were also many areas where the village simply bled into the jungle with streets ending in a little clearing before the vegetation began. There were some walled-off sections of the village that funneled any attacker towards the open streets. The problem for Ghansi was that he did not have a large enough security force to adequately cover all of the approaches into the village on the jungle side.

"Since none of us have the necessary military watercraft to hazard an amphibious landing, we are going to have to breach the village from the jungle. You maidens will enter through the main entrance and cause as much disruption as possible. This will hopefully pull away guards and allow the four of us to advance unnoticed deeper into the village and, ultimately, Ghansi's compound. Your initial position will be here," she stabbed a finger at a squat building situated on a five-way intersection. "From this position you should be able to hold out long enough for us to complete our interrogation and destroy the compound. However, if you become overrun or decide to fallback, you must notify us beforehand. If such a retreat is considered, your objective is to pull as many of them back with you. The destruction of the compound will be your signal to break off your engagement and retreat as best you can."

Aiels raised her voice, "That is the wor-" I placed my hand on her shoulder before she could finish her sentence.

"Paladin Ravone," I said in a very professional tone, "it seems to The Girl and I that you intend for us to die."

Paladin Lycelle spoke up. "Rocky shores are not only shaped by gentle waves."

I really don't like zealots very much. "While Athame's teachings ring true to our ongoing education as maidens, this plan uses us as bait without a thought to how we would survive nor how we would question Ghansi ourselves."

"Your inclusion in our assault was only discussed today. We have been here for five days formulating our plan. The plan before you is how we decided you could help us." Ravone gave me a sly look. "Or would you two rather stay here in this cave with the collars on?"

Aiels stood up abruptly. "Listen holy woman, why the fuck do you have those torture devices in the first place?"

"I cannot divulge that information," Ravone said stiffly.

"Figures," she grunted in reply. Aiels looked at the wireframe projection slowly spinning above the table. "This plan is shit for us." She rubbed her forehead and looked at me. "I'm game."

"You're what?" I screeched.

"We can do this 'Resa. With your biotics and my rifle, we'll keep them on their toes." A smug smile played across her scarred face.

I settled down in my seat and looked between Aiels and the paladins. "Fine." I shrugged. "I don't have anything better to do, anyway."

Ravone nodded. "Good. We are leaving for the base now as darkness falls. While there may be slaves present, they are not our top priority. While it will be difficult for many of us, our orders were clear: Interrogate Ghansi Kallresh, destroy his compound, help slaves if practicable."

"What are the plans after we complete the assault?" I asked. "We arrived on this island by way of a local."

Paladin Lycelle spoke instead of Ravone. "We have enough room on our shuttle for three more."

"Then what if we find more than one slave being held?" Aiels asked with an edge in her voice.

"We'll notify the local authorities," Lycelle answered.

Aiels slammed her palm on the table, making the projection shimmer as it spun around serenely. "That's not good enough!"

Lycelle rose out of her chair to assert her authority. "It will have to be good enough because we have our orders. If you continue your outbursts then, as Paladin Ravone said, you can be collared again while the women do the real work."

"I will never be collared again, you pretentious bitch! Each slave in that compound deserves to be rescued!" Aiels had stood to glare at Lycelle across the table.

For my part, I sat back and let Aiels get her frustration out of her system. There was no way I was going to get pulled into her riptide on this issue. I saw this from both sides of the table. The war priestesses received their orders from the high priestess. Yet the desire to free slaves was always a factor when hitting slavers. Even when we were in the Eclipse, Jona would try to save slaves. Well, only those she found useful, or pretty, or who made her laugh. Jona freed slaves when she wanted to basically, so maybe she wasn't the best comparison.

The yelling back and forth continued until Ravone unsheathed her sword and, with a grunt of exertion and a flash of biotic energy, slammed it through the table. The table cleaved down the middle and fell to the ground as those of us who were still sitting scrambled out of its way.

"ENOUGH!" Ravone yelled and her body flared with biotic energy. The spectacle was awesome and harrowing. Paladin Ravone commanded the attention of the room, even Aiels. "Enough bickering! Gather your weapons and attack that village!" She pointed out the door and there was little desire on my part to continue the argument.

I grabbed Aiels wrist and pulled her along. I made my way through the cavern, dragging Aiels with me. She threw up protests but trailed along all the same. At the entrance to the cavern, we saw our helmets placed on the floor. I stopped long enough to slam Aiels' helmet into her chest as I shoved my own over my head.

I trudged away from the entrance to the caverns and heard loud rustling in the foliage behind me as Aiels raced to catch up. We walked in silence until we came to the main road through the jungle which led to an undeveloped beach to the south or Desril Village. As I slowed near the edge of the jungle, Aiels finally pulled my shoulder back to face her.

"Athame's ass 'Resa, what the fuck is wrong with you?"

"You are the problem! All you do is start confrontations! How the hell did you survive on Lohse without the marine garrison running you out of town?"

"I kept to myself! Just like I should be doing on this mission! I should never have let you talk me into letting you come along."

"Oh, that's right, it's all my fault. If you would stop being so damn selfish we may actually have a chance to get out of this mess. Yet your continued hostility to everything and everyone now jeopardizes our safety. I thought you were past this issue? But you just can't help yourself, can you? No wonder the whole fucking Sisterhood died on Garvug!"

I immediately regretted what my outburst. Aiels' expression was that of a wounded child or a knife in the back...or both. Quickly it turned to anger and her scarred face turned into something hideous as she furrowed her brow and brandished her teeth at me in unmitigated anger.

"After this mission is over you can go fuck off on your own search!"

"Aiel-"

A biotic lash knocked me onto my back. Soon Aiels was standing over me. "My name is The Girl."

I picked myself off the ground as Aiels walked out onto the road and turned towards Desril Village. "Wait! I'm sorry!" I called out to her. "It was wrong of me to say! Please, wait for me!"

* * *

 _Relaria_ \- A white-feathered bird native to Thessia that was held sacred by Athame and her followers. ( **A/N:** The birds in the ancient painting of Athame teaching the asari found in ME3)

 _Lycanth_ \- A predatory marine animal native to Thessia which hunts its prey in the large coral reefs found on the planet.

* * *

 _Thank you for reading this chapter and this story! Feel free to leave a review to let me know what you think about my writing or to ask questions about what is going on in the story! I love to hear from you and will answer them as I see fit. Don't forget to Follow and Favorite if you have not already done so. And spread the word! The more readers the merrier!_

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 **Review Responses:**

 _Katkiller-V_ \- While Deckard is still an Operations Chief, the highest NCO rank in the Systems Alliance, he also has a reputation. Not only is he a member of Seager's Sabres, which is the most veteran squadron on the _Royal Fortune_ , they are also a highly decorated squadron. In the last story, Bianka told Deckard how his actions on Ontarom had swept through the Corsairs. While NCOs would not normally be able to bypass the military bureaucracy to immediately reach the deck, Deckard's reputation combined with the fact that all of his direct superior officers were off-ship left him with no other choice. Captain Tanwar even addresses him by his honorific: 'The Survivor of Lohse' when he is finally informed of his presence by _Fortune's_ XO. So, was it a stretch? Maybe. But I have also given you a grounded explanation.


	5. Act I: Chapter 2 - The Path of Light, 2

Act I: Liberator

Chapter 3: The Path of Light, Part 2

The Sisters

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Desril Village, Trident, Hoplos, Hades Nexus, Attican Traverse, Milky Way

The entrance to Desril Village and the surrounding area was uncannily quiet and still. There were some gulls cawing in the distance and the crash of waves could still be heard but the village was quiet. Aiels and I were crouched behind some foliage waiting for the paladins to inform us when to begin our assault. I had tried to talk to Aiels a couple of times as we made our way to the village but it was all for naught.

I took a calming breath and whispered to her once more from behind. "Aiels, please. We must talk." She didn't say anything but moved her head slowly from side-to-side as a response. I didn't know what else to say. I had lost my anger but I think it was more due to frustration with how we were treated by the matrons from the temple than anything else. Aiels was always childish and immature. I had taken the easy road and blamed her for the one thing that left her disfigured and exiled from the Eclipse.

And I don't believe my own sacrifice with Jona ever registered with Aiels as being done for her. It had led us down widely different paths and maybe...probably...she was resentful that I lived a semi-glamorous life among humans while she was reduced to smuggling to make a living. How different our lives were and yet here we are, together. Most likely about to die. Shit, I should be saying this stuff to Aiels, not thinking about it. Yet her mood was already a tempest and she seemed to be actively focusing on the mission. Hopefully, I'll have a chance to talk with her after all of this is over.

I sighed audibly and frowned to myself. If we managed to come out alive. No one knew how many guards were in Ghansi's employ. There could be a hundred or there could be twenty. With his lack of control over all areas of Desril Village, the obvious conclusion was that he had a middling force at his command. Yet the uncertainty was eating away at me. Aiels was good with a sniper rifle but her biotics weren't trained and she would not last long in a sustained fight. While I had training for my biotics and used them primarily in battle, I couldn't last forever against a sustained attack. We'd just have to learn how to swim in the riptide before us.

A pop on our comms announced that we had been patched into the priestesses comms. Paladin Lycelle was the one who spoke up, her low pitched voice easily identifiable.

"We are in position maidens. Break comms silence with three fast clicks when you're heavily engaged. Begin your infiltration now."

Aiels cursed under her breath before stalking out of the foliage and towards the entrance to the village. Since this had been a corporate settlement, they had constructed a beautiful entrance complete with a guard box to receive corporate and government guests. The entrance showed little damage except for the general neglect of the village after being situated on a small island on a water world. The paint was chipping, exposed metal was tarnished, sand had built up in crevices, and birds had nested where they could find an artificial perch.

I followed after Aiels in slow, measured paces. Her sniper rifle was held at the ready as she calmly approached the entrance. I clutched my Torrent assault rifle in my hands perhaps a little too tightly. Maybe my nerves were finally getting to me? Or it could have been the tension between Aiels and myself. My companion stopped at the edge of the guard box and brought her sniper rifle up to look through the scope. I held back, waiting for her signal to move up. With a quick twitch of her fingers, I brought my own weapon up at the ready and swept the entrance as I hurdled past the barricade blocking the road.

I made my way to the first structure perhaps 20 yards past the entrance and took cover at its corner. I scanned the street before motioning for Aiels to move up herself and take another position. In this way, we traversed the silent main street of Desril Village for the next five minutes. Our pace began to slow as we infiltrated deeper into the village. There was still no one contesting our intrusion nor could we hear anything outside our own boots scraping on the ground and the sound of our armor as we moved.

My paranoia began to climb higher and higher as we passed side streets and alleyways where any sort of patrol could flank our position or ambush us from behind. There was no way to tell Aiels of my fears as we had to maintain radio silence. Finally, as the road turned slightly to the left, we saw a large, open area of compressed dirt scattered with weeds.

I was the furthest ahead and gave the hand signal for Aiels to join me. When she did so without a word, I turned back to my left to face her as we rested against a prefabricated building.

"I think this is the intersection," I whispered.

Her scarred face pinched together and she stepped around me to look further down the road. Stepping back into cover she nodded her head. "Agreed."

"So that large building jutting out from the bend must be the building the paladins mentioned," I explained. "Should we make a run for it? We need to start becoming a distraction somehow."

Aiels pursed her lips. "I'm not dying today. Let the patrols come find us."

"But we haven't found any patrols," I whispered back.

"We haven't run across any, is all. They're out there. We have to be close to Ghansi's compound." Aiels peeked around me again. "Let's continue to stagger our approach."

"Agreed. Thanks for talking with me."

Aiels gave me a glare in return and took off to the other side of the street and well ahead of my position. Clearly, our communication was going to be strictly business today. It took only a minute longer to reach our destination due mostly to my own caution upon approach. I was able to prop the building's doors open long enough for Aiels and me to squeeze in before the doors slid closed loudly behind us.

Sure enough, as we made our way through the building, which appeared to be a storage warehouse, the portion facing the large intersection had windows out in three directions. The five-way intersection was constructed as such: the main street, which we had taken, passed by the building in a north-south direction. From the west came two streets which merged together to form the Terran letter "Y" immediately before connecting to the main street. From the east, a single road branched off from the main street at a 60-degree angle. Down the east road was a line of demolished prefabricated structures. The scars of what had befallen the structures were worn and weathered. From what we could tell, those buildings had either two or three walls left standing. Meaning that they provided excellent cover for a group of soldiers.

Aiels and I decided that trying to use cardinal directions for each of the roads was going to be cumbersome and confusing. So we assigned the roads numbers instead. "1" was the south portion of the main street we had just come up from. "2" was the first branch of the western roads with "3" being the second, more northerly branch. "4" was the north portion of the main street and "5" was the eastern road. The portion of the building facing the intersection was one large room with four windows. There were two windows which looked out towards the west and provided good fields of vision on 2, 3, and 4. There was a window which looked solely out on road 1 and one window on the north side of the room which had a constricted view of road 4 and an open view of road 5.

Now we would just have to provide some form of protection against incoming fire. I was about to head out of the room to find furniture to form barricades when Aiels noticed a patrol coming down road 5. I was on the right side of the window so I threw my back against the wall to stay out of sight. Aiels took a few paces back from where she was standing in the middle of the room and knelt down. Bringing the sniper rifle up to her cheek she cast me a quick glance.

"I suppose we need to become a distraction?"

I sighed and brought my assault rifle up, letting it rest on the front of my shoulder. "I suppose so."

Two breaths later Aiels' rifle roared to life and the window shattered next to me. The sound was deafening within the enclosed space. Aiels waited, almost statuesquely, for the sniper rifle's heat sink to kick in. She began to mutter to herself before she let another round fly. She took a deep breath and lowered the rifle.

"I believe the second guard contacted the compound. That was a long cooldown," Aiels said with a grimace.

"That's our job though, right? Get Ghansi's forces to leave the compound?"

"Our fucked up job." Aiels turned her attention to adjusting modules on her rifle and seemed to have blocked me out.

I walked over to the two side-by-side windows and surveyed the village. No movement yet. But they were coming. I glanced back over my shoulder at Aiels, determined to break down her hastily thrown up wall.

"What do you think? Armor-piercing or phasic rounds?"

She twiddled with her rifle a little bit before looking off into the distance. "Armor-piercing. Ghansi can't have much in the way of money to put towards personal shields."

I nodded my head and popped the regular ammunition block out of my Torrent and took out the tungsten ammunition block from a hip compartment in my armor. Aiels was busy slapping one into her own rifle when I got a flash out of the corner of my eye. I instinctively ducked as rounds pinged off the outside of our position.

"Contact!" I called out.

Aiels grunted and crawled on her ass out of direct line of sight from the window. Her hasty movement put her out of position to support my own gunfire on roads 2 and 3. I waited for a second burst of fire to slack off before I poked my head around the window and squeezed off a few bursts. There was no sense in getting the weapon close to overheating at the start of the firefight. I leaned out again to catch any movement from the opposing force.

"Squad of four, on 3," I said. I heard movement behind me as Aiels set up in a new position. "Tell me when you have a target," I asked before leaning out from the wall to fire at the approaching squad of guards.

Rounds peppered the ground in front of the window and pinged off the building as I pulled myself away from the window. I gave Aiels a glance and saw she was just beginning to peer down her scope. I waited for her to fire off a round when I saw four more guards coming down road 5. I raised and fired off a sustained burst through the previously broken window. The gunfire caught the rightmost guard before they had a chance to move into cover. His lack of shields partially proved that I was right about the ammunition choice.

"Enemies are everywhere!" I yelled out to Aiels before she pulled the trigger. She responded with a small nod of her head as she lined up another shot while waiting for the rifle to cool. I flung myself over to the north window and peppered the approaching squad with another burst of fire. I knew I had to get lucky at this distance for any noticeable effect. Aiels rifle roared to life behind me once again.

She and I couldn't keep up this game for long. But this was our mission and the only way to, hopefully, question Ghansi about Ontarom. We had to draw more guards to our position and then survive. Only six guards were engaged with us but there had to be more on their way or still waiting in Ghansi's compound.

I let out another short burst from my rifle towards road 3 then handed it to Aiels. "We need more fire on the guards. Take my rifle and begin to fire down five at my signal."

She took the rifle a little reluctantly as rounds chewed up the ceiling. "What's the signal?" Aiels grunted as she brought the rifle up to her cheek.

"You'll know," I said with a smile and a wink. I crawled back out of the room as the gunfire outside tapered off. They were probably trying to figure out if they killed us. I had to make this quick and effective. Standing up as I reached the doorway, I unclipped my pistol from my hip. Sadly, I didn't have time to change the ammunition block if my crazy plan was going to keep us alive.

I opened the door and sprinted across the main road. One of the guards was in the middle of the road as his squad approached our position made a surprised sound. I slowed and leveled my pistol at his chest and fluttered the trigger. The rounds caught the armored guard in the chest and staggered him. I kept on fluttering the trigger, trying to break through the armor before the weapon overheated.

To my left, I heard another guard call out my position before an assault rifle chattered away with little aim. To my right muted gunfire from the outpost could be heard as Aiels started firing on the guards coming down road 5. The guard in front of me finally collapsed from my own marksmanship as more rounds from his companions kicked up the dirt and eventually slammed into my leg.

I cursed as I stumbled to the ground in the middle of the road. This was turning out to be a very bad idea. I heard the scuffing of boots on the ground as some of the remaining guards came closer to me. I accepted the fact I had to unleash my biotics now or I would be dead, right before a sniper blast blared from our outpost and a guard fell ten yards in front of me.

I looked up and saw the remaining two guards clamber back from where they were approaching me to find cover behind some metallic benches. Aiels resumed firing at the guards on road 5 as I gathered myself and made a bad attempt at a sprint across the road. All I could do was continue to flank the guards and get them to call in more reinforcements.

The two guards swung their weapons around to try and track my movement but were just a little too slow, even with my limping run. Rounds chewed up the ground behind me until I reached the corner of a house. The metal wall took a beating as I caught my breath, the dull pain in my leg raged from my exertion. Waiting for the opportune moment, I spun out from the corner and steadily fired my pistol at their location ten meters up the road. The pistol wasn't very accurate but I had flanked them and had cover leading up to their position.

The rounds hit one of the guards and slowly depleted his shields. He fired his assault rifle but was widely inaccurate. These were not very professional security forces under Ghansi's employ. My sustained barrage allowed me to run up to the next closest corner before the heat sink gave out. Fortunately, the last rounds I fired before the pistol overheated had broken through his shields and tore into the guard's armor. He wasn't out of the fight but he was wounded.

I could hear the guttural batarian between the two as I waited for my next opportunity to push forwards on their flank. Aiels' gunfire could still be heard from our building. It was steady and short as she tried to keep the rifle from overheating. When I was ready to press the attack again, Aiels' gunfire went silent. Two beats later her sniper rifle roared to life and I was left with one bewildered guard as I sprinted from cover. The guard was transfixed on his fallen friend easily closed the distance between us. My boot steps finally snapped him out of his state of shock and he spun around with a snarl.

It wasn't fast enough. I gave a yell as I whipped his helmet with the butt of my pistol before shoving the weapon against his chest and feathered the trigger into the ablative plating. His screams mixed with the pistol's own death beat before finally trailing off. I stood over the fallen guard and took stock of my situation as hot blood slowly dribbled off of my right hand.

Aiels was still firing at the guards on 5. I was a little bruised but no serious injuries. I shifted my feet and kicked a rifle lying on the ground. While it was a Batarian State Arms piece of shit, the rifles would still be helpful so that we could have continuous fire whenever the next major force hit our position.

The staccato of gunfire caught my attention. I could see that the guards were still holding out against Aiels. There were three of them left standing. I picked up one of the hunks of metal the batarians called a weapon and began firing at the guards. Each guard shrunk back behind the destroyed buildings like a turtle hiding in its shell. I scooped up the other rifle at my feet and jogged back to our forward position. I made it to the door in one piece and locked it behind me as I made my way to the large room to help Aiels.

With two assault rifles now chattering away, we were able to put extra pressure on the guards. Though they had an excellent position, they were not very accurate shooters and seemed to be unused to prolonged firefights. Which made sense, they were slavers who employed hit-and-run tactics against mostly unarmed civilians. While not a bumbling bunch of idiots, there were enough mistakes that Aiels and I could capitalize on for our own advantage. We were able to take down two of the guards within two minutes of my return to our position. We kept up sporadic fire on the last guard, hopeful that he would make a call for more reinforcements. Aiels finally ended the charade after a minute when she blew off the top of his head with one shot from her sniper rifle. The rest of Desril was quiet around us.

We waited in the quiet stillness around us, still tense, waiting for a barrage of gunfire. With no immediate threat outside the building, we slowly relaxed. "Do we even have any food or water?" I asked Aiels.

She sighed heavily. "No. Your bitchiness made sure we left that damn cave wholly unprepared."

"My bitchiness? If you wouldn't have accosted the palad-"

A small clunk was heard outside of the side of the building right before the explosion blew out the corner of our building which faced the roads. The blast knocked Aiels and me to the ground as the air above us was peppered with gunfire. It seemed the rest of Ghansi's guards finally showed up.

Aiels gave three quick clicks on the comms without hesitation as she laid on her back. We had upheld our end of the paladin's mission. I just hope The barrage continued until another spinning disk was thrown into the room.

"Shit!" I yelled. I scrambled to my feet and grabbed a hold of Aiels waist, helping her get halfway to a standing position. "This is going to hurt," I said through gritted teeth before I biotically charged through the hole in the wall and to the other side of the intersection. The explosion went off behind us as we stopped and fell to the ground at the edge of the opposing buildings. Aiels immediately vomited at what she just experienced. My whole body ached. It was one thing to biotically charge yourself, but to do so with another person was exhausting.

I realized quickly, however, we were still in very real danger. Thankfully Aiels had held onto her sniper rifle. I was not so lucky and only had my pistol and my biotics. I whipped the pistol off of my hip as Aiels retched again, fearfully muttering that the guards would hear her. I slowly stepped forward to get a better view of the intersection. Where we had landed was back a bit from the road and we were protected on our flanks by housing units.

Walking up to the road's edge I poked my head out and quickly took in our situation. A squad of six on our right and a squad of seven on our left. They all had their weapons drawn on the building. I jerked my head back and slowly returned to Aiels to report the situation. She was propping herself up from the ground and the exhaustion was clearly evident on her face.

"Thirteen guards in the intersection," I said in clipped tones. Aiels responded with a glare before using her sniper rifle as a crutch to stand up. When she got on her feet she closed her eyes and blew out a long breath. I coughed a little at her acrid breath. Her scarred face narrowed as she looked a little past me towards the intersection.

"I say we make for the compound. These guards will have to comb through the building and then start looking for us when they don't find our bodies in there. If we make for their compound now we can help out the precious paladins and then deal with Ghansi."

The plan was sound if a little outside the scope of our mission. Yet I still had the feeling that if we didn't get to Ghansi fast then the paladins would leave us with only a corpse to question. I nodded my head once. "Let's start running then."

We made good time as we traversed the alleys of Desril. We had cut anchor with caution and paid little heed to check for any patrols or guards. While it may have been foolhardy, we both realized that speed was necessary in order to speak with Ghansi.

We came up a small hill and stopped. The alley in front of us ended in an open space. The Desril Conglomerate Headquarters was ringed by a large open area. The patchy ground with yellowed grass and old metal benches symmetrically laid out spoke to the once lush park that had fallen into disrepair. The area was quiet. No guards could be seen around the building, either.

"Should we knock?" Aiels said with a smile. I returned the smile, which seemed to wreck the good-natured moment as AIels' face went blank and she turned to look at the building. "I don't know how we're going to get in unnoticed," she muttered.

The answer was provided as one of the paladins came crashing through a second-story window of the building and landed several feet in front of us. I broke cover and ran to help the paladin who laid on the ground. Her chest piece rose up and down in haggard breaths but she made no other signs of movement. Coming to a stop I recognized that it was Paladin Freana who had been thrown out of the window but by what or by whom, I could not say. I crouched down and got a hold of her shoulders. Her eyes fluttered open as her body flared with biotic energy.

"It's just me, Daresa!" I said as she glared at me and brought her right arm back in a fist. The arm fell back down to the ground as Aiels came to her other side, her eyes fixated on the building. "What happened to you?" I asked.

"Another chamber of sisters. They attacked us as we stormed Ghansi's office." Freana said through labored breaths. Her head rolled from side to side as hwr breathing began to wane.

"Stay with me, paladin!" I yelled as I tore out a medi-gel module and slapped it on her. Her breathing leveled off as the gel was distributed by her armor's VI. Shortly afterward she was knocked unconscious, from the pain or the medi-gel I couldn't be certain.

I looked at Aiels. "We should move her and assist the paladins."

"Those guards will be coming back!"

"Then we'll hide her," I retorted. Freana was a heavily-built asari and moving her was no small task. I hefted her weight the best I could and dragged her to the side of the building behind some thick bushes.

"Reminds me of that time on Omega where we hid the turian chick outside of Afterlife," Aiels said with a smile on her face.

"Ugh! Don't remind me. We had to wade through a varren pen as well. My armor smelled for three days!" We laughed a little before gunfire from inside the building ended the moment. "Let's see what we can do," I said with grim determination.

I checked my pistol as we moved towards the front entrance and Aiels brought up the rear, her rifle at the ready. I kicked in the door and rushed into the small waiting area. Ghansi's slavers had turned the once pristine office decor into a fortified garbage heap. Rotting trash laid at our feet as the former glass window was replaced with a thick metal barrier haphazardly welded into place with firing slits cut into it. The lone door in the refuse-filled lobby was open to the left of us and I poked my head around into the hallway beyond. The hallway continued down to the right and ended in a set of double doors. I pointed my pistol down the hall as Aiels took the lead and opened the doors enough to get a sense of what lay in front of us.

Aiels shouldered open the doors and motioned for me to move into the room as well. The room was two stories tall and a vast open space. Partitions cut across the room and seemingly making a maze we had to traverse. Picking our way through the labyrinthine room we saw cots, desks, and many many alcohol bottles strewn throughout the various cubicles in the maze. Ghansi's guards likely stayed in this room. The design hoping to thwart any direct attack through the area. Dull thuds could be heard beyond the room and we picked up our pace.

We made it out of the partitions and were faced with a doorway propped open by a dented metal box wedged into the bottom of the door's track. The dull thuds of biotic power being unleashed could be heard once again emanating from wherever the corridor lead. I broke into a run, the thought of Freana's broken body coming back to me. I don't know what two former mercenaries could do to help against, what did Freana say, another group of paladins, but I was damn sure going to try and help out those who sought our help, no matter how suicidal the task. I hadn't waited for Aiels when I started to run towards the gunfire but I heard her boots on the hallway behind me as I turned the corner and saw two paladins locked in a biotic show of strength before me.

Paladin Lycelle had two hands pressed together, her palms facing outward, projecting a powerful biotic field towards a similarly dressed asari who was doing the same. Aiels and I pulled up short as we tried to make sense of what to do. I could tell that Lycelle was straining to ward off the other paladin's biotic attack but my brain couldn't process the correct response. Do I shoot a warrior priestess? What would happen as a punishment? Should I even help or just walk away? Was this a religious matter that should just be settled by the two groups? Would there be repercussions from Paladin Ravone's group if we interfere?

Aiels sniper rifle barked to life as a round slammed into the other paladin. The field between the two priestesses dissipated. The other paladin let out a grunt of pain. No blood could be seen behind her. Amazingly, she must have put up a barrier at the last moment. A snarl broke across the nameless paladin's face. Acting on instinct I threw her with as much might as I could into the wall. Paladin Lycelle took a deep breath and was on the other paladin as she bounced off the wall.

The fight resumed but Lycelle's renewed ferocity was too much for the paladin to handle. After attacking with biotic punches, Lycelle began to duck and weave around the other paladins own swings. Aiels and I stood there as the two matrons danced around each other, locked in their combative struggle. Suddenly Lycelle lurched towards her opponent and grabbed the other asari's neck. A biotic surge pulsed down her arm and the other paladin was slammed into the wall. Lycelle unclipped a collar from her armor and clamped it shut around the neck of her fallen opponent.

Lycelle trudged down the hallway toward us and picked up her dropped rifle. She gave it a quick inspection before focusing on us. "Well, at least you two maidens have proved to be helpful. Twice."

"I'll cherish the memory I saved a paladin's life," Aiels said with one of her trademark grotesque smiles. Lycelle responded with a quick smirk.

"Paladin Lycelle, what is happening? Why are you being attacked by other paladins?" I asked.

"I don't know where this chamber came from, or what their mission is, but they are protecting Ghansi and have already killed Freana. They must be eliminated. A paladin's mission is either completed or we perish in the act." Lycelle turned and started walking towards the end of the hallway.

Aiels and I began walking with her. "Paladin Lycelle, Freana is still alive. She survived her fall out of the window," Lycelle turned to me as she walked, her expression softening. "We hid her from any guards that may return to the complex."

"You have done well for listless maidens. I will remember these acts upon my return to Thessia. Now prepare yourselves, Paladin Ravone and Paladin Benar are still battling the last two priestesses who protect Ghansi Kallresh." Lycelle opened the set of double-doors at the end of the hallway and listened for a moment.

She activated her comms, which we had apparently been looped out of after our diversion was successful. "This is Lycelle. I have handled and incapacitated my girl - with a little help from the two maidens. What's your status?" We walked in status as Lycelle got her response. "Understood," she responded. Lycelle turned to us. "Time to make sure these sisters don't get the upper hand."

We followed her through a series of rooms and up a set of stairs, delving deeper into the complex. Through another set of double doors, which the original architect seemed to favor, we came out on a once opulent roomed filled with destruction. Lycelle quickly accessed the situation before either Aiels or I could. My attention was drawn to two paladins hammering away at each other with pinpoint accurate throws, pulls, warps, and barriers. The attacks were barely missing each other as they sought to gain dominance in their biotic fight taking place 2 meters apart. With a biotic charge, Lycelle flitted to the left side of the room and smashed her rifle butt into the temple of an already collared paladin who was slumped against the far wall. It happened so quickly that only after Lycelle had pulled her rifle away did I notice a gun fall out of the collared paladin's hands as she slipped into unconsciousness.

Locked in biotic battle, Paladin Benar and her opponent didn't even notice our presence or did not care that we were there. Lycelle dropped into cover behind a shattered couch and Aiels and I finally reacted and hid as well. I watched with one eye on the fight in front of us as beyond the far doors another battle could be heard. The sound of metal ringing against metal crept its way past the doors.

A cry of pain from Benar refocused my attention as she staggered towards the other paladin only to have warpfire unleashed in front of her. The momentary lapse in her defense had been exploited. Lycelle responded by flinging the couch she was using as cover towards the other paladin and I added a biotic throw towards the incoming couch. The paladin couldn't react in time and was dropped with a sickening crunch as the furniture hit her square across her chest. Benar recovered and threw the couch off her attacker before putting three rounds into the paladin.

"Benar!" Lycelle yelled at her. "She is still a priestess of Athame!"

"Then she damn well shouldn't have picked a fight with a fellow priestess!" Benar's voice was cold as she stared back at Lycelle. Benar turned her head slightly to acknowledge us. "Thank you, maidens. I will remember-"

"Yeah, yeah," Aiels said with disinterest. "We heard it all from Lycelle. Does Ravone need help?"

"I believe our presence would be most appreciated," Benar replied. She holstered her pistol and drew her sword out with a flourish. Benar raced ahead of us and into the fray that was taking place in the room beyond.

"Lycelle!" I called out as the other paladin began to move towards the room. "Fareana is still outside. Someone should check on her."

"Very well, I will help out my sisters in their battle." Lycelle made to walk away.

"We are staying here to make sure we can interrogate Ghansi about the slaver raids. I will not forfeit Kallresh to the Temple." I realized my body was trembling as I stood up to the paladin, the cold, emptiness of the inhibitor collar resurfacing in my mind.

Lycelle looked from Aiels and then to me before she shrugged. "The Girl comes with me."

"Or?" Aiels drawled.

"Or nothing. If either of you wants to talk with the slaver, one of you must come with me. I fear The Girl's emotions may make your talk short so I'm choosing her to accompany me to my wounded sister." The sound of frantic combat picked up as Lycelle finished speaking. "You have no choice if you want to speak with Ghansi," Lycelle said into the brief silence.

"Let's go then," Aiels said, walking towards the room's entrance. Lycelle left with her and I turned my attention to the other room where three asari warrior priestesses were locked in combat.

I didn't know what to expect when I opened the door with my pistol at the ready but the destruction on the other side was amazing. Desks, chairs, and other furniture were crushed multiple times over. The walls were dented, scorched, and gouged from numerous errant attacks. Paladins Ravone and Benar stood between the door and a bloodied paladin in resplendent green and gold armor. Each warrior priestess had their biotic sword drawn and poised.

The other paladin took in my presence with fire in her eyes. She looked cornered but dangerous. Her features contorted into a sneer. "Now a third enters with pistol drawn, what happened to our fair fight Ravone?"

"She'll stay out of this fight," Ravone said without taking her eyes off of the green-gold armored asari. "Do you understand me, Daresa?"

Time was wasting and I had already had my fill of these paladins and their attitudes. While they weren't as strict as the justicars, their dogma was nearly as suffocating. I gave a slight shrug before fluttering the trigger and taking down the other priestess. Ravone gave a shout of resistance while Benar passively watched the rounds tear into the armor. When the pistol finally overheated, Ravone stormed towards me and pulled the pistol out of my hand.

"How dare you kill a Priestess of the Light!" She delivered a savage slap across my face. "You interrupted this fight with no provocation!"

"No provocation?! Isn't she protecting the slaver who sent wave after wave of guards after The Girl and me? You are my ally in this fight. You were under duress and I took action. I do not know all of your rituals and dictates but I damn well know when someone is outmatched in a fight. Both Paladin Benar and you were not enough to overcome this one paladin, so I finished the fight before it could drag on longer."

"You are released from our alliance," Ravone said curtly.

"The hell I am! I was promised time to speak with Ghansi Kallresh."

"You forfeited that right when you gunned down Paladin Ryelle," she motioned to the green and gold clad asari on the floor.

"This is getting us nowhere," Benar said with exasperation. "We will deal with this later. The mission still stands as before, find Kallresh and kill him. Who cares what the maiden does with him before his punishment?"

Paladin Ravone looked me over before sheathing her sword and trudging off down the hallway that led off from the back of the room. Benar and I walked together, stepping over Paladin Ryelle's body and the growing pool of blood. Benar still had a detached look on her face as we walked after Ravone.

"So why are you being attacked by other paladins?" I asked Benar in a lowered voice.

"Sister Ryelle mentioned one of the matriarchs made them Kallresh's personal guard months ago."

"She said that during your fight?" I asked suspiciously.

"When I joined the fight, the pace slowed down." Our attention was drawn to Paladin Ravone kicking open doors in front of us, looking for Ghansi. We slowed our pace and Benar spoke in a whisper. "We were testing each other's resolve. To see how far each was willing to go to accomplish our given mission." Ravone glared back at us quickly before she kicked in the next door in the hallway. Benar stopped and looked at me. "You just sped up the inevitable conclusion of our fight. We have our customs when fighting other paladins, though it is a rare occurrence."

A deep, throaty cry called out ahead of us. It seemed Ravone found her quarry. Another cry of pain greeted Benar and I as we reached the room where Ghansi was hiding. There in the far corner, Ghansi Kallresh was getting his face broken by Ravone's thorough beating. No questions were being asked in between punches and Ravone didn't seem that she would be asking any.

"Hey!" I called out. I failed to get Ravone's attention as she broke the arm Ghansi was using to hold himself up on the nearby desk. "HEY!" I called out again as I grabbed Ravone's shoulder and spun her around. I narrowly missed her fist flying at me before I got a firm grasp of her entire body, which immediately flared with biotic energy.

"Take your hands off of me, mercenary!"

"I am not a mercenary, priestess! Let me interrogate the man before you render him unconscious!" Ravone struggled again to get out of my grasp but she thankfully didn't throw me off of her.

"Sister Ravone, please!" Benar chided. "We will discuss this with the two maidens later." Ravone's biotics finally calmed as she stopped resisting me.

"You have three minutes. I am done with this lawless world." She roughly pushed me away from her and walked out of the room with Benar.

I turned my attention to the whimpering slaver at my feet. I nudged him with my foot to get his attention. "I hope you heard that Ghansi, because no matter what, that paladin is going to kill you soon." I crouched down to be closer to the broken man. "You going to cooperate?"

There was a sharp intake of breath before Ghansi spit blood out and onto my boot. "You asari are all the same. Act you like own this damn universe."

"I'll take that as a 'no.' Sorry to do this the hard way." I grabbed his broken arm in my hands. "You could have made this easier on yourself, Ghansi." I began to slowly bend the broken arm in an unnatural direction. Ghansi's screams filled the room.

When I stopped, Ravone called out to me. "One minute."

"Now listen you slaver filth. You're going to die today. Answer my question: why did you order the raid on Ontarom?"

Ghansi's four eyes went wide and he worked his mouth as if to speak. He closed his mouth shut and seemed to shudder as if fighting to speak. "She. Told me." He managed to blurt out with great effort.

"What's wrong?" I asked with concern. "Who are you talking about?" I picked him up off the ground and propped him up against the wall. "Who?!"

Another fight for words as I heard footsteps approach behind me. Ghansi's top pair of eyes looked over my shoulder. "The. The. Matriarch." As he finished, half of his head was blown away with a pistol round. Brain matter and gore flew into my face startling and shocking me into a stupor.

"Your time is up and you have the information you wanted," Paladin Ravone said coldly. "Now take the other maiden and leave this planet."

I absentmindedly wiped the batarian offal of my face, trying not to wretch as I did so. I slowly turned on my heels as I looked up Ravone. Any compassion she showed me back in the cavern was gone. Cold, calculating anger was the only thing I felt looking at her now. Slowly standing up I narrowed my eyes.

"Athame's mercy that I never have to see you again, priestess."

"You'll definitely need such mercy if I run across you and that horrendous girl again." She motioned to the door with her pistol as she continued to stare me down. I huffed out a grunt in annoyance before walking to the exit to find Aiels and get off this planet.

 **A/N** \- Phew. Is there anyone still out there? Finally got this chapter done after two months. It will go up later as I try to actually write out more chapters after this one. But it's done. Enjoy reading. Let me know what sucks! Looks like I'm still picking up some subs. Cheers for that! If you are a long-time subscriber I scrubbed up the previous chapters. Nothing major, minor grammatical and word usage changes. Should be a better read!


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